Acoustic Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 This is not really a gardening question, but IS to do with plants.Walking along a little lane here today we noticed an area covered with some lowish shrubs which had the look of elder, complete with white flower buds and plenty of ripe black berries. The berry clusters were upright rather than drooping and somehow I don't think they really were elderberries. Does anyone have any idea what they might be? Unfortunately we had been out taking photos of various wildflowers and my camera battery was flat by the time we found them but I'll try to get a picture over the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Sloes, by any chance? Not sure that they appear at the same time as white flowers though but they are berries of the blackthorn, which have white flowers.http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Sloe&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Blackthorn&btnG=Search+ImagesIf they are sloes, you can pick them, flash freeze them*, prick them and then steep them for a few months in gin with some sugar to make sloe gin.* The flash freeze is because traditionally, you only picked sloes after the first frost. Then I found out that you can replicate nature by flash freezing them yourself... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acoustic Posted August 29, 2008 Author Share Posted August 29, 2008 Strangely enough we were actually looking for sloes today but these definitely aren't. Sloes seem to be in very short supply in the Dordogne this year - I have seen a grand total of two! We love a drink called pacharan, a Spanish liqueur, a combination of anis and sloes. This is what we had been planning to make but I suspect this year isn't the one for this.The berries we saw today are shiny, in clusters and much smaller than sloes. The leaves are relatively large and tender, not like the spiky little blackthorn bushes. I will take a picture tomorrow and post it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acoustic Posted August 30, 2008 Author Share Posted August 30, 2008 Pictures as promised. Everything seems to say "elder" (red stems etc) but somehow I'm not sure. Something to do with them being on very low bushes I suppose? Any help in identification would be great![IMG]http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l360/janlawther/elder2.jpg[/IMG]and another view[IMG]http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l360/janlawther/elder1.jpg[/IMG] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeira Jon Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Those leaves seem too thin for elder, and elder has very brittle wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graye Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Could it be Dwarf Elder? If so I don't think wine would be a good idea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Yep, definitely dwarf elder. Best avoided as it is mildly poisonous and would make you throw up quite a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini_man Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Agreed with Dwarf Elder. It's interesting that you mention a shortage of sloe berries this year. Last year we made over six bottles of sloe gin but so far this year you have seen two berries more than we have. Which makes me think it might be prudent to guard the last bottle and a half we have of sloe gin for another 3 to 4 months [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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