European Buckthorn Rhamnus cathartica (Fr. Nerprun purgatif) is one of the few European species in a genus which contains about 100 species, most of which occur in the tropics. It can be found in England, south to the Mediterranean and east into Asia as far as Kyrgyzstan. It's French name 'nerprun' is a corruption of 'noire prune' (black plum).
The plant forms a bushy shrub up to 5 metres tall. The wood is dense and solid, but not used very much. The black fruits are toxic to man, but birds will eat them and disperse the seed. Both the fruit and the bark are violently purgative. An extract from the berries has proved very effective in treating coccidiosis in domestic rabbits. The fruits and shoots were once harvested for use as a textile dyestuff.
The largest specimen I've ever seen, on the Etang Purais nature reserve in the Brenne.
It is the caterpillar food plant for the Brimstone butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni (Fr. Citron) and if you see a bright yellow male Brimstone fluttering about there is likely to be a Buckthorn in the vicinity.
1 comment:
Don't forget Alder Buckthorn which is easily told from Buckthorn by the fact there are no spines.
Also, think Alder.... Alder Buckthorn likes it wetter.
And both are foodplants for the Brimstone... I'm certain to have some of either here because we get some lovely yellow males [had to look twice a few years back as one that settled near me and closed its wings looked so deep, I thought it might have been a Cleopatra. But, no, just a trick of the light.
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