Palinurus

Palinurus, a genus of trees and shrubs of the natural order Rhamnaceæ, nearly allied to Zizyphus (see JUJUBE), but very different in the fruit, which is dry, orbicular, and girded with a broad membranous wing. P. aculeatus is often called Christ's Thorn, and by the Germans Jews' Thorn (Juden-dorn), from the fancy that it supplied the crown of thorns with which our Saviour was crowned. It is a deciduous shrub or low tree, with slender, pliant branches and ovate three-nerved leaves, each of which has two sharp spines at the base, one straight and the other re-curved. It is a native of the countries around the Mediterranean, of India, and many parts of Asia. It is often used for hedges in Italy and other countries, its sharp spines and pliant branches admirably adapting it for this purpose.