Four-lobed pink capsules split in autumn to show bright orange seeds, on a shrub with green, four-angled twigs
Spindle. Leaves and fruit are poisonous.
Nature · Shrubs
Spindle
Native · flowers May–Jun · hedges, scrub and woodland edge on chalk
Euonymus europaeus — Celastraceae
A small shrub or tree of lime-rich hedges and scrub, unremarkable for most of the year until autumn, when its four-lobed pink fruits split to show bright orange seeds. All parts are poisonous. Its hard pale wood was once turned into the pegs used for spinning wool.
How to spot them
- ▸Fruits: four-lobed capsules of vivid pink that split to reveal bright orange seeds, looking like popcorn
- ▸Green, four-angled twigs with corky markings, straight and slender
- ▸Shiny, slightly waxy leaves with tiny sharp teeth, turning orange-red in autumn
- ▸Small four-petalled greenish flowers in clusters in May and June
- ▸Look-alike: dogwood, when in leaf. Dogwood leaves are smooth-edged with curved veins; spindle leaves are finely toothed
How to know it
Its creamy, dense wood was turned into tools for holding and spinning wool, and into skewers and knitting needles
Spindle.
Artists' drawing charcoal is made from the timber of this hedgerow shrub
Spindle.
A hedge shrub whose foliage feeds the caterpillars of an ermine moth named after it, and of the holly blue
Spindle (Woodland Trust: the spindle ermine).
Its Greek generic name means 'good name', said to mean 'lucky', though early flowering was thought to foretell plague
Spindle — Euonymus.
Which poisonous native shrub has fruits that resemble bright pink popcorn?
Spindle.
Quick-fire facts
- •TOXICITY: spindle is poisonous. Woodland Trust: both the leaves and fruit are toxic to humans, the berries having a laxative effect. Do not eat any part.
- •Euonymus is Greek for 'good name' (eu, onoma); said to mean 'lucky', though in some areas early flowering foretold plague
- •Named for spindles — the tapering pegs for spinning wool — made from its hard, dense, creamy-white wood; also skewers, toothpicks, pegs and knitting needles
- •Charcoal from spindle is used by artists
- •Caterpillars of the magpie, spindle ermine and scorched moths, and the holly blue butterfly, feed on the leaves
- •The flowers are a nectar and pollen source for the St Mark's fly
- •It thrives on chalky soil and is less common in Scotland
- •The fruits were baked and powdered to treat head lice and mange in cattle
- •One of the woody species counted in Hooper's rule for dating hedges; its presence suggests an old, mixed hedge
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)