Leycesteria formosa
A fast-growing deciduous shrub throwing up clumps of hollow, sea-green canes to about two metres. Through summer the drooping flower spikes carry small white trumpets beneath claret-purple bracts, and the fruit that follows ripens from green through dull red to purple-black. A Himalayan garden escape, now thoroughly naturalised in the milder west of Britain and Ireland, where the ripe berries are eaten in small quantities and are often described as tasting of treacle or burnt caramel.
A garden escape long since out of the garden: damp woodland edges, shaded lanes, railway banks and cleared plantation ground, most abundant in the mild, wet west — Cornwall, Devon, Wales and western Ireland. Tolerates deep shade and acid soil.
Only fully ripe, soft purple-black berries are worth taking; accounts of the flavour range from treacle-sweet to insipid, and the earlier green and red fruit is bitter. Edibility is thinly documented compared with common hedgerow fruit, so keep quantities small on a first tasting. It colonises shaded roadsides and railway banks where traffic dirt and spray collect.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Hollow, sea-green canes
Upright, faintly waxy stems reaching about 2.5m in a loose clump. They are soft and short-lived rather than woody, and a cane crushes between finger and thumb instead of resisting like a hedgerow shrub.
Drooping spike under claret bracts
From July the flowers hang in a pendulous tassel: whorls of small white, sometimes pink-tinged tubular flowers held beneath large crimson to purple bracts. Visible from several metres, and the single most decisive feature. Flowers and ripening fruit are usually present on the same plant.
Opposite, long-pointed leaves
Leaves sit in facing pairs on a short stalk, ovate with a drawn-out tip, roughly 5-15cm long and rich green. Leaves arranged singly up the stem rather than in pairs rule this plant out.
Berries pass through three colours
Fruit starts green, goes through dull red-brown, and finishes deep purple-black. Only the last stage is worth eating, and it should burst under light pressure. Firm fruit of any colour will be bitter, so ripeness is judged by squash as much as by colour.
Flowers and fruit in stacked whorls
Each node of the hanging spike bears a tight whorl of five or six flowers, so the ripe berries sit in dense stacked clusters up the stem rather than scattered singly along a twig. Check this before picking any dark berry from a hedge bank.
Upright shrub, not a climber
Despite the name it does not twine or scramble. New canes rise straight from the base each year and the plant keeps little woody framework, unlike true honeysuckles (Lonicera), which climb or arch.
Glandular, softly hairy young growth
Young stems, leaf undersides and bracts carry fine hairs and sticky glands that catch dust; older canes lose them and become smooth, jointed and hollow enough to crush between finger and thumb.
Soft, many-seeded flesh
A ripe berry collapses under light pressure into dark juice full of tiny gritty seeds. A firm berry, or one that tastes green or bitter, is simply not ripe yet and is better left on the spike.
Updated 2026-08-08T12:03:23.281Z · Added 2026-07-24T17:51:13.774Z
Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Other