Plants for fruits and berries

Plants for fruits and berries

Why grow fruiting plants?

Many birds rely on berries and fruits in autumn and winter, when other sources of food such as insects are scarce. However, changes to the wider countryside - like agricultural intensification, biodiversity loss and habitat destruction - have reduced the amount of naturally occurring scrub and woodland where berries historically occurred. 

This is why growing berry plants in your garden is a good way to make sure that birds can find the vital energy and nutrients they need to survive the colder months.

What is a berry? 

A berry is what a botanist would call a ‘true’ succulent fruit, with one or more seeds enclosed within a single structure. Each seed – which lacks any stony protective coat – is held within pulpy flesh formed from the wall of the ovary. Examples of berries include the fruits of currants and nightshades.

The fruits of some other plants, such as Blackthorn, resemble berries but are, strictly speaking, drupes, the difference being that the seed is encased in a stony or woody coat. The fruits of blackberries and raspberries are compound drupes, the fruit composed of many smaller drupelets, each of which contains a seed. Other drupes include sloes, plums and cherries.

False succulent fruits are those in which the fleshy case around the seed is formed not from the ovary wall but from other parts of the flower. The best example of a false succulent fruit is a rose-hip. The fruits of hawthorn, cotoneaster and whitebeam develop in a similar way to a rose-hip but are more berry-like in appearance. They are called a pome by botanists, a term that also applies to the fruits of apples and pears.

Berries and birds

Cotoneaster berries.

Berries provide the means for some plants to disperse their seeds over longer distances than would otherwise be possible, without the help of some other creature. The plants often offer nutritious fleshy fruits to attract birds to take the seeds, hidden inside, and ingest them. The seeds have tough external coats that protect them from the digestive systems of birds, allowing them to be deposited elsewhere once they have passed through the bird’s gut.

This apparently mutualistic arrangement (birds acting as dispersers and plants devoting resources to offering energetic rewards) is complicated by the fact that some birds eat the pulp and discard the seed (pulp-predators) or eat and digest the seed (seed-predators). Regardless of such considerations, there is plenty of evidence in the scientific literature to highlight that some plants are particularly valuable to birds as a source of berries or seeds.

Species focus: Guelder-rose

Guelder-rose Viburnum opulus can be found across most of Britain and Ireland, though it is absent from higher ground. It favours neutral or calcareous soils, often on damp ground, but it is also widely planted in gardens and amenity parkland.

The berries, more correctly 'drupes', are carried in small groups of 20-30, the cluster drooping under the weight of the berries as they ripen from September or early October. Although of low toxicity, the berries may cause vomiting if eaten raw.

Access the Online Atlas of the British & Irish Flora for more information on Guelder-rose, including maps and other material.

Species focus: Hawthorn and Midland Hawthorn

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata) can be difficult to separate in the field, a problem further complicated by hybrids formed where the two species occur together.

The best feature by which to distinguish the two species is leaf shape, with the leaf lobes more deeply divided in Hawthorn than is the case in Midland Hawthorn.

Hawthorn is found across Britain and Ireland, though absent from parts of Northern Scotland, and is associated with scrub, open woodland and hedgerows. Midland Hawthorn has a core range that extends over lowland England, the plant are often associated with ancient woodland and old hedgerows on clay soils. Many records from outside this core range (including a scatter of records from Scotland and Ireland) refer to planted populations.

The berries, known as haws, are scarlet and shiny when first ripe in early August, then become crimson with age and less shiny. Yellow-berried forms of Hawthorn have been recorded. Haws of Hawthorn tend to be more shiny than those of Midland Hawthorn.

Access the Online Atlas of the British & Irish Flora for more information on Hawthorn and Midland Hawthorn, including maps and other material.

Species focus: Spindle

The Spindle Euonymous europaeus is instantly recogniseable when fruiting, the coral-pink, deeply-lobed fruits being characteristic. The fruits ripen from September to November, each lobe splitting open reveal a single seed, with a bright orange aril (seed covering).

Spindle can be found on free-draining soils, particularly those overlying chalk and limestone. It may be planted in hedgerows, woods and gardens, and it may escape from the latter into new sites. It is most commonly encountered in the southern part of Britain and across Ireland, with a few records from Scotland presumed to be introductions via planted stock.

Access the Online Atlas of the British & Irish Flora for more information on Spindle, including maps and other material.

Species focus: Yew

The fruits of Yew (Taxus baccata), not berries but arils, are taken by a wide variety of birds. They, or rather the seeds that they contain, are highly poisonous as are the leaves and other parts of the plant. Just 500g grazed from the branch is sufficient to kill a cow, and just 100g sufficient to kill a horse.

Yew should be easy enough to recognise, the evergreen foliage and pinky-red fruits characteristic. Widely distributed across Britain and Ireland, the Yew is most often found on well-drained calcareous soils. It has been widely established in larger gardens, churchyards and amenity parkland, sometimes used as a hedge.

Other fruit-producing plants for gardens

The following berry-producing plants have been associated with seed dispersal by birds and may be good food sources for birds during the fruiting period.

English name
Scientific name
Status
Juneberry
Introduced
Strawberry-tree
Native/garden escape
Lords-and-Ladies
Native
Deadly Nightshade
Native
Berberis spp.
Berberis sp.
Introduced
Barberry
Native
White Bryony
Native
Lily-of-the-valley
Native/garden escape
Dogwood
Native/garden escape
Red-osier Dogwood
Introduced
Cotoneaster spp.
Cotoneaster sp.
Introduced 
Hollyberry Cotoneaster
Introduced/Schedule 9
Franchet's Cotoneaster
Introduced
Wall Cotoneaster
Introduced/Schedule 9
Late Cotoneaster
Introduced
Small-leaved Cotoneasters
Cotoneaster microphyllus agg.
Introduced/Schedule 9
Willow-leaved Cotoneaster
Introduced
Himalayan Cotoneaster
Introduced/Schedule 9
Native
Native
Spurge Laurel
Native/introduced
Mezereon
Native/garden escape
Spindle
Native
Alder Buckthorn
Native
Ivy
Native
Sea-buckthorn
Native/introduced
Holly
Native
Stinking Iris
Nativegarden escape
Juniper
Native
Garden Privet
Introduced
Privet sp.
Ligustrum sp.
 
Wild Privet
Native
Honeysuckle
Lonicera sp.
Introduced
Duke of Argyll's Tea-plant
Introduced
Oregon-grape
Introduced
Apple
Malus domestica
Introduced
Crab-apple
Native
Medlar
Introduced
Garden Solomon's-seal
Introduced
Angular Solomon's-seal
Native/garden escape
Wild Cherry
Native
Cherry Plum
Introduced
Dwarf Cherry
Introduced
Wild Plum
Introduced
Cherry Laurel
Introduced
Portugal Laurel
Introduced
Bird cherry
Native/introduced
Blackthorn
Native
Firethorn
Introduced
Pear
Introduced 
Buckthorn
Native
Black Currant
Introduced
Red Currant
Native/garden escape
Gooseberry
Introduced
Field-rose
Native
Dog-rose
Native
Small-flowered Sweet-briar
Native
Soft Downy-rose
Native
Round-leaved Dog-rose
Native
Burnet Rose
Native/garden escape
Sweet-briar
Native
Japanese Rose
Introduced
Sherard's Downy-rose
Native
Short-styled Field-rose
Native
Dewberry
Native
Cloudberry
Native
Brambles
Native
Raspberry
Native/garden escape
Stone Bramble
Native
Dwarf Elder
Introduced
Elder
Native/garden escape
Bittersweet
Native
Black Nightshade
Native
Whitebeam
Sorbus aria
Native/introduced
Rowan
Native/introduced
Swedish Whitebeam
Introduced
Broad-leaved Whitebeam
Introduced
Wild Service-tree
Native/introduced
Black bryony
Native
Native
Small Cranberry
Native
Bilberry
Native
Cranberry
Native/introduced
Cowberry
Native
Wayfaring Tree
Native/introduced
Native
Laurustinus
Introduced
Mistletoe
Native