Spindle Berries

Spindle berries, Euonymus europaeus.  Scadbury Park, 11 September 2011.

Among the shrubs and plants that I never saw in my childhood is the Spindle. Like many British species, a few degrees of temperature makes all the difference to where it grows.

It's a small, thin-stemmed shrub, with inconspicuous flowers, and it doesn't really stand out in the hedgerows until the fruits appear. These are so vividly and waxily pink, sometimes shading towards red, that it's hard to believe the colours are natural.

When they ripen, the orange seeds squeeze out from the fruits without any prompting.

It is said that the name derives from traditional use of the wood to make spindles for spinning wool. With those delicate branches, this must have meant that a whole plant would have been taken to use the trunk to make just a handful of spindles.

Spindle fruits, Euonymus europaeus.  Scadbury Park, 11 September 2011.