Spindle-Tree
Euonymus europaeus
Feoras

Worldwide there are over 175 species of Euonymus, widely distributed across Europe and Asia, most of them shrubs. The ubiquitous and dull, variegated evergreen shrub, E. japonicus, is well known and all too commonly grown as a hedging plant..

The only wild Irish spindle-tree is a small easily overlooked deciduous shrubby tree with smooth grey bark and shortly stalked, opposite, oval to lanceolate leaves, slightly toothed on their edges, and four-angled green twigs. The latter characteristic is the easiest way of identifying the species, winter or summer. It is an unremarkable species except when in fruit. The fruits are orange-red in colour and surrounded by a rose-pink fleshy sheath called an aril. In autumn, a spindle-tree well laden with fruits can be a most striking sight. Its flowers are small, inconspicuous and greenish, occuring in the axils of the leaves.

A native, E. europaeus is widespread, especially in the centre and parts of the west, but rarer in the east and north. It is commonest in woods, hedgerows and thickets and frequent in rocky places and lake shores, particularly on limestone soils. Spindle-trees produce a durable white timber, formerly used for making spindles, viola bows, skewers and toothpicks. The whole plant is poisonous though.

Deciduous; flowers from May to June.

Information extracted from the Appletree Press title
Appletree Deluxe Editions: Trees and Shrubs
by Peter Wyse-Jackson. Appletree Deluxe Editions: Ireland's Flora & Fauna - Collection, comprising Trees and Shrubs, Birds of Ireland and Wild Flowers.