You can look, but you better not touch

[Celebration]

I don't have a clue what this is!

[NV Whino]

1. Wow!

Nasty looking spikes.

[Mz Pip]

2. Considering all the thorns

around it, I don't think it wants to be touched.

It looks like some kind of citrus that mutated into something carniverous. Any toxic waste dumps nearby?

[Celebration]

3. kinda like a Halloween pic

Very Scary!!

Actually this is near the Parthenon in Nashville. It is something that "they" must have planted. The tree tour is way too confusing to actually take. But when I saw this I did a complete doubletake. There are a number of strange looking trees around, but this is just a strange looking bush.

The bush has learned how to protect its fruit, for sure.

[Sheepshank]

4. very cool

even the coils on the bush itself look ominous. Interesting how the brambles are on the end of the coils and not along the sides....like a hypodermic needle.

[Adsos Letter]

5. There is some type of alien life form gestating inside that thing...

I can feel it... :scared:

[alfredo]

6. Check the gardening forum. They might know.

[Denninmi]

8. And We Did Know over on the Gardening forum!

Cross-posting my answer here for your convenience:

What you have here is an obscure but very "famous" plant among rare fruit enthusiasts and bonsai growers.


It is Poncirus trifoliata 'Flying Dragon' -- more commonly known as Japanese Bitter Orange or Trifoliate Orange. The 'Flying Dragon' cultivar is famous for its twisted growth.

It is the most cold hardy citrus. It grows about as far north as Boston and the Ohio River valley. The 'Flying Dragon' cultivare is a little more cold-sensitive than the species.

Bonsai growers love its form. The thorns are very vicious. The regular species is often used as hedge material to keep livestock contained because of the thorns -- it is essentially living barbed wire.

The tree has white, fragrant spring flowers, the foliage is deciduous and turns yellow in the autumn.

The little oranges have a bitter white pith inside the skins, and are seedy, but you can use the juice like lemon or lime juice in cooking. Someone sent me a box of them from Alabama once, and I made a pretty decent marmelaide with them, but I did take the extra step of boiling the peels separately and then scraping the white bitter pith off before chopping the peels.

This is a plant I've always wanted to grow here in Michigan but isn't hardy enough. I have a six footer of the species type in a pot that is almost 10 years old -- had its first blooms last spring, but no fruit set. Maybe next year.

Propagation is from either seeds or cuttings, which root extremely easily in soil with rooting hormone.

[Celebration]

10. Thank you SO much

And Alfredo, thanks for the suggestion that I ask the gardening forum.

[alfredo]

11. Thank you!! Images I'd love to have one.

[Mira]

12. That is just fascinating! I was actually naming it "Audrey II"

with a nod to Little Shop of Horrors.
Gardening Forum, eh? Did not know about that.
But til a year ago, I did not know about the photographers. Can I handle another diversion, and more people who know what they are doing?
I think so........................

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. It's like a mutant fig or something. LOL Very cool pic, though.

[Callalily]

9. Wow! Not only a great

picture but a plant lesson too! ;)

As I side note, I am terrible at plant idenitifcation. If a kindergardener can not identify it, neither can I. ;)