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Buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae)
Shrub of heights to 5(7) m. Bark dark brown with elongated white lenticels. Leaves arranged helically, obovate, with a short point, entire, up to 8 (12) cm long. Lateral veins arching, linked up at margins. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, greenish-white, with nectar supplying honeybees. Flowers in clusters of 2-10 in leaf axils. Drupe-fruit round, 6-8 mm in diameter, initially green, later red, and black when ripe. Flowers and fruit of various stages of development simultaneously. Flowers Jun.-Sep.
Has wide amplitude as regards habitat, growing in mesic, moist and marshy coniferous or mixed forests. Also in fertile broadleaved forests and willow scrub. Simultaneously POISONOUS and with medical applications.
Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski
