Ziziphus obtusifolia is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family known by several common names, including lotebush, graythorn, gumdrop tree, and Texas buckthorn.

[1] Ziziphus obtusifolia is a shrub with many branches forming a thorny tangle which may exceed 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall and approach 4 metres (13 ft) at times.

The leaves are deciduous and are absent for much of the year, leaving the shrub a naked thicket of gray twigs coated in waxy whitish hairs.

The thick, glandular gray or green leaves have oval blades 1 or 2 centimeters long.

[1] Birds use the shrub as a nesting site and the southern plains woodrat uses the twigs to build its houses.