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sapode

Thorny shrub with small clustered leaves

sapode
11 years ago

Hi there,
We moved recently and the last tenants here were not exactly gardeners. There are a few ill-kept shrubs and I'm working on my garden plans for spring. This shrub is the only one that is currently bearing leaves and it is in pretty bad shape (read: pretty darn ugly). It was covered with vines from a next-door-neighbor's plant until this morning. I uncovered it and now I'm trying to decide if I want to keep it or just tear it out.

The details:

Portland area, Oregon, USA.
Outdoor plant.
Appears to be a garden plant.
Woody shrub, upright, TONS of thorns. Small clustered leaves. Multicolored but I think that's due to poor health and not natural leave variegation. The healthiest leaves are a dark glossy green and are sort of holly-like in appearance, with small spikes at each "point" on the leaf.
It has leaves now, in mid-winter. The plant is probably 4 feet in height. No idea if it has flowers or berries at any other point in the year, as we've only lived here a few months.

More photos (copy and paste the URLs into your browser to view):
leaves: http://i49.tinypic.com/k1ta2x.jpg
leaves: http://i50.tinypic.com/ohlmwp.jpg
dead branch with thorns: http://i46.tinypic.com/242yhr9.jpg
the whole shrub: http://i46.tinypic.com/2mnqdr9.jpg

This is my first post, so thanks in advance for your help, garden experts!

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