Gymnosporia is an Old World genus of plants that comprise subshrubs, shrubs and trees. It was formerly considered congeneric with Maytenus, but more recent investigations separated it based on the presence of achyblasts (truncated branchlets) and spines, alternate leaves or fascicles of leaves, an inflorescence that forms a dichasium, mostly unisexual flowers, and fruit forming a dehiscent capsule, with an aril on the seed. The genus occurs in all of Africa, Madagascar and adjacent islands, southern Spain, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, southern China, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, Malesia, and in Queensland, Australia. In the Afrotropical region the two main centers of diversity are in the south and the northeast.

Gymnosporia heterophylla commonly known as Common Spike-thorn is a small, hardy, deciduous African tree up to 5m tall, occurring in rocky places with a wide distribution from Ethiopia, the Sudan and the Congo, south to the Cape Province and west to Angola and Namibia, as well as the neighbouring islands of Madagascar and Saint Helena, with a closely related species from Mauritius. It has a straggly, but rigid habit and is armed with sharp straight thorns up to 100mm long, which are modified branches. Bark on the mature trunk is grey-brown and deeply fissured.