Berry recognition help

[BushTucker]

Hi all

Found this while gathering sloes yesterday, any ideas what it is?

Looks like a black current to me but hey, i dont know...

 

[copper_head]

Heh Bushtucker,
is it possible it is buckthorn? See Xylarias excellent thread on poisonous fruit and berrys here:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24991&highlight=poisonous+fruits

hope that helps

 

[BushTucker]

Thanks Copper_head, thats a very interesting read. So many dangers lurking for the likes of me.....

 

[combatblade1]

Do you have a better picture of the leaves front and back and the stem as it spreads to the berries? Could be a buckthorn an alder or glossy.

 

[Gibbsy]

Cherry laurel.


http://pharm1.pharmazie.uni-greifswald.de/allgemei/koehler/koeh-249.jpg

 

[BushTucker]

Oh, erm ok but give me a min

 

[BushTucker]

Ok, cant find all my macro lenses so this is as good as it will get for now,

So i take it that its poisonous?

 

[Tantalus]

There is a nice cherry laurel near me here which had me puzzled for a bit, I opened one of the fruits and it was very plum like with a small plum stone in the middle surrounded by a good layer of soft fruit.

Thanks for that linky Gibbsy, what it doesnt show well is the size of the leaves, big big waxy things bigger and lighter green than rhododendron.

Must take a pic of it tomorrow just for the record.

Do not eat, although prunus is plum family this one is nasty.

Tant

 

[BushTucker]

Well the leaf above is about 25mm long and 10mm wide. Inside it has 2 large pips which fill the berry with no flesh layers and the juice is blue?

 

[Tantalus]

Bah berries all gone

Here is the bush in question though

Tant

 

[combatblade1]

Still looking mate its not buckthorn, the leaves are wrong and the fruit in buck thorn has only 1 seed inside.

 

[combatblade1]

There is a nice cherry laurel near me here which had me puzzled for a bit, I opened one of the fruits and it was very plum like with a small plum stone in the middle surrounded by a good layer of soft fruit.

Thanks for that linky Gibbsy, what it doesnt show well is the size of the leaves, big big waxy things bigger and lighter green than rhododendron.

Must take a pic of it tomorrow just for the record.

Do not eat, although prunus is plum family this one is nasty.

Tant

Tant Prunus laurocerasus berries are edible when ripe, the seeds and the rest of the tree are toxic.

 

[combatblade1]

Bush tucker still no luck, try crushing the leaves if they smell of almonds the plant probabley contains cyanide placing it possibly in the laurel family, at this point im stumped. PM Toddy she maybe hasnt seen this yet she is very knowledgeable about this type of flora.

 

[Gibbsy]

A bit more research and i have found this one.

ligustrum vulgare (privet)

These are two seeded and have an oily flesh , the berries produce a blue green dye, are poisonous so make sure you wash your hands.



http://search.live.com/images/resul...ttp://www.flogaus-faust.de/photo/liguvul0.jpg

 

[Toddy]

Looks like privet, but the fruits seem a bit more *plumy* than I recall and the stems are usually greener on privet. Might just be a close up photo though.
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/index.php?section=environment:species:tree&id=661
I don't think I've ever seen a cherry laurel, but purging buckthorn berries are ripening into black just now and they would be growing where the sloes do.
http://www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/trees/buckthornp.htm
leaves look a little too smooth at the edges though.
I found a gean (wild cherry/ bird cherry) the other day that still had black berries on it; the stems look alike but the cherry leaves are much larger.

If the berry crushes on a kitchen towel and stains kind of dark green rather than purple I'd go with the privet.

Bye the bye, the earliest fishtrap we have Europe (mesolithic) is made from privet branches. It can be coppiced like willow and will produce good long weaver stems in a couple of years.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[BushTucker]

Well, thanks for all the info so far, been a great help.
I crushed the leaves and it smells like apple peel, if that makes sense. No smell of almonds though.

 

[xylaria]

I would say it was privet, because it has a thick cuticle on the rim of the leaves like olive. Purging buckthorn has leaves that sort are simerlar to dogwood instead.

 

[Karr]

I agree, this is 100% Privet - Wild privet. The leaves (apparently) contain a yellow dye.
Though all parts are poisonous.


Regards Sparrow.

 

[Andy B]

I would say privat. but Bay also has black berries in the laste stages. You would know by the smell of the leaves though.