This is another of those plants whose name has changed slightly from Rhamnus catharticus to Rhamnus cathartica. The berries of this plant were often used as a powerful purgative in the days of old. Unripe berries were boile with alum and used for making a dye to colour leather. This shrub is also the larval food plant of the Brimstone Butterfly along with Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus).

Rhamnus cathartica is a shrub which prefers basic soils and is widespread in eastern, southern and central England but scarcer in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

RHS: Ranscombe Farm, Kent 3rd June 2007 LHS: Gaitbarrows, Lancashire 12th June 2004

Added on November 17th 2005, updated 16th November 2011