Common names:

• Barbados flowerfence  (Source: Firewood Cr) - English
• horse-bean  (Source: Websters Dict) - English
• Jerusalem-thorn  (Source: Dict Rehm) - English
• Mexican paloverde  (Source: Trees US) - English
• retaima  (Source: Dict Rehm) - English
• arrêtenègre  (Source: Dict Rehm) - French
• Jerusalemdorn  (Source: Dict Rehm) - German
• espinheiro-de-Jerusalém  (Source: Dict Rehm) - Portuguese
• cina-cina  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• espinho-de-jerusalém  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• rosa-da-Turquia  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• turco  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• espinillo  (Source: Dict Rehm) - Spanish
• palo de rayo  (Source: Firewood Cr) - Spanish
• palo verde mejicano  (Source: Dict Rehm) - Spanish
• jerusalemtörne  (Source: Kulturvaxtdatabas) - Swedish
• sessaban  (Source: Firewood Cr) - Transliterated Arabic

Economic Importance:

• Bee plants: honey production (fide Leg ErWild)
• Environmental: erosion control (fide Firewood Cr)
• Environmental: ornamental (fide Firewood Cr)
• Fuels: charcoal (fide Firewood Cr)
• Fuels: fuelwood (fide Firewood Cr)
• Weed: potential seed contaminant (fide Noxweed Aust; Invasive Pl Spec)

Distributional Range:

Native

Northern America

• SOUTH-CENTRAL U.S.A.: United States [Texas]
• SOUTHWESTERN U.S.A.: United States [Arizona (s.)]
• NORTHERN MEXICO: Mexico [Sonora, Baja Norte, Baja Sur]

Southern America

• WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA: Bolivia, Ecuador, [Galapagos Islands] Ecuador, [Galapagos Islands] Peru
• SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA: Argentina, [Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Chaco, Entre Rios, Formosa, Salta, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero] Paraguay, Uruguay


Cultivated (widely cult.)

Naturalized

Africa

• MACARONESIA: Cape Verde
• SOUTHERN AFRICA: Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland

Australasia

• AUSTRALIA: Australia

Northern America

• United States

Pacific

• NORTH-CENTRAL PACIFIC: United States [Hawaii]

Southern America

• CENTRAL AMERICA: Belize, Central America, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
• South America

References:

1. Webster's third new international dictionary. 1961 (Websters Dict)
2. Plants of southern Africa: an online checklist. (Pl SAfr Online)
3. Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource on www.skud.info). 2012 (Kulturvaxtdatabas)
4. Brako, L. & J. L. Zarucchi Catalogue of the flowering plants and gymnosperms of Peru. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 45. 1993 (L Peru)
5. Graham, E. H. Legumes for erosion control and wildlife. USDA Misc. Publ. 412. 1941 (Leg ErWild)
6. Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. (pers. comm.)
7. Jørgensen, P. M. & S. León-Yánez, eds. Catalogue of the vascular plants of Ecuador. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 75. 1999 (L Ecuador)
8. Little, E. L., Jr. Checklist of United States trees, Agric. Handb. 541. 1979 (Trees US)
9. McVaugh, R. Flora Novo-Galiciana. 1983- (F NGalicia)
10. National Academy of Sciences Firewood crops. Shrub and tree species for energy production. 1980 (Firewood Cr)
11. Parsons, W. T. & E. G. Cuthbertson Noxious weeds of Australia. 1992 (Noxweed Aust)
12. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994 (Dict Rehm)
13. Weber, E. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds. 2003 (Invasive Pl Spec)

Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN-Taxonomy).
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://germoplasma.iniaf.gob.bo/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=26783. Accessed 7 junio 2026.