Summer highlight: Pheasant berry
This month we bring the Pheasant berry (Leycesteria formosa) into the light. It’s an easily grown shrub providing cover for game birds, such as pheasants in agricultural parts of China and Tibet.
Origin
Brought over from South West China during the Victorian era this shrub bears very sweet tasting berries, like toffee, when ripe but are extremely bitter to taste before then.
Appearance
The attractive fruit are reddish-purple berries, quite large, which are said to be a tempting snack for pheasants, hence the common name.
At Westonbirt
This low maintenance shrub from the Himalayas is best known for its claret red bracts that create a great contrast to its white flowers which form from June to September.
Fun fact: This plant is also known under names such as Himalayan honeysuckle, flowering nutmeg, or granny's curls.
This brings the summer highlight trees to an end. Next month, we’ll be heading into autumn taking a look at the Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), another species from the east.
