PlantKey Open ecological atlas
Planner
Home / Browse / Rhamnus / Lanceleaf Buckthorn
iNaturalist — CC, credited & licensed per image
Rhamnaceae family

Lanceleaf Buckthorn Rhamnus lanceolata

Native

Lanceleaf Buckthorn is a perennial tree native to the lower 48 states.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 5 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Tree layer (canopy / understory) — Sits in the tree of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~10 caterpillar species

Rhamnus supports ~10 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus.

Recorded feeding on Rhamnus in North America, including:

Ancylis brauni · leafroller moth ✦ Apophthisis pullata · leaf-blotch miner moth ✦ Stigmella rhamnicola · pygmy leafminer moth ✦ Antheraea polyphemus · Polyphemus Moth Argyrotaenia quercifoliana · Oak Leafroller Celastrina argiolus · Holly Blue
+ 8 more species →
Certima dositheata · geometer (inchworm) moth Cnidocampa flavescens · slug moth Euchlaena mollisaria · geometer (inchworm) moth Eulia ministrana · leafroller moth Eupithecia columbiata · geometer (inchworm) moth Eupithecia misturata · geometer (inchworm) moth Hemileuca eglanterina · Elegant Sheep Moth Hemithea aestivaria · Common Emerald
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0). ✦ = recorded on this exact species.
✦ Bees 21 bee visitors
Visitor records (observations, not exhaustive) from Noori et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0) · GloBI → · ✦ = pollen-specialist bee (Smith et al. 2024)
Wildlife & visitors 1 bird · 1 nectaring

Open records of who else uses Lanceleaf Buckthorn — a generalist food-web signal, kept separate from the keystone Ecological Value.

Recorded eaten by 1 bird species (fruit, seed, browse):

Tyrannus tyrannus · Eastern Kingbird

1 adult butterfly & moth species is recorded nectaring at its flowers:

Harrisina americana · Grapeleaf Skeletonizer
Interaction records (observations, not exhaustive) from GloBI → (CC0). Counts are distinct species; names are the most-recorded. Common names from Wikidata (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (16) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Wetland indicator — USACE National Wetland Plant List (2022)
[08] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[09] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[10] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[11] Wildlife & visitors — GloBI — Global Biotic Interactions (CC0)
[13] Bee specialists — Smith et al. 2024 (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0)
[14] Flower-visitor value (derived) — Noori et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0) · GloBI
[15] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[16] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.
Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

Citation

Loading…

BibTeX 
Loading…