Frangula alnus
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Frangula alnus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Infraspecifics
Editorial Note
Bean discussed a number of infraspecific taxa no longer recognised as distinct from the species. These entries are retained here for their horticultural value, pending a full, revised treatment of Frangula, to be undertaken when funding allows.
A deciduous shrub or a small tree up to 15 or 18 ft high; young shoots downy. Leaves oval or obovate, 1 to 3 in. long, scarcely half as wide; wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, often with a short abrupt point, not toothed; dark glossy green and glabrous above, paler and often somewhat downy beneath; veins parallel, usually in eight or nine pairs; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers clustered two to ten together in the leaf-axils of the young shoots, bisexual, the parts in fives; calyx and flower-stalk glabrous. Fruits at first changing from green to red, then to dark purple, 1⁄4 in. across, roundish, two-seeded.
F. alnus is widely distributed in western Eurasia and is a native of Britain, though absent from Scotland and the north-west. It is a rather handsome small fruiting tree with foliage of a cheerful green. Under the name of “dogwood” its wood is used (as charcoal) in the manufacture of the finest gunpowders. The bark has purgative properties.
'Asplenifolia'
A remarkable form with leaves as long as in the type, but only from {1/12} to {1/6} in. wide as a rule.
f. angustifolia (Loud.) Schelle
This has narrowly oblong or oblanceolate leaves, from 1⁄4 to 1 in. wide, the margins uneven or jagged.
var. latifolia Dipp
Found in the Caucasian region, this has larger, broader leaves than the type, up to 31⁄2 in. long and 2 in. wide.