Mystery berries

Hello

Hello

Does anyone know what this plant/berry is? I don't suppose it's anything edible, but you never know! My hand for scale purposes!

Hello

What about this? Is it a Rowan tree?

Thanks for your help!!

ShillyShally

The first one looks like laurel to me, which is not edible.

I think the second one is rowan.

Penelope_Penguin

Laurel and Rowan

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fiddiwebb

The first pic is Laurel, beware that the berries are poisonoius and contain cyanogenic molecules which are capable of producing cyanide in the body

The second pic does look like Rowan. could do with a close up of the leaf to be certain.
Rowan berries are toxic unless cooked, they contain parasorbic acid in there raw form.

Hello

fiddiwebb wrote: »

The second pic does look like Rowan. could do with a close up of the leaf to be certain.

Hello Fiddiwebb, is this close up OK? Would appreciate your help! Thanks.

nanokitten

Yep, First is laurel, very poisenous. It is well know for killing cttle and horses if they graze on it so be careful if it's in your garden and you have pets.
The second is Rowan AKA mountain ash, traditionaly grown by the door to keep witches away (AKA witches bane). not normally edible berries but I recently bought rowanberry jelly. not tried it yet but supposed to be nice
plenty of recipes out there, eg:
http://britishfood.about.com/od/recipeindex/r/rowanjelly.htm

jennyjelly

Definitely laurel & rowan. The laurel will root really easily if you leave the berries on the ground, I was forever pulling little trees out of the gravel when we had one.

Incidentally, anyone know if it's possible to grow rowans successfully in tubs, and if so will they produce berries? I fancy keeping the witches away but don't have soil by the door.

(Sorry to hijack thread!)

ixwood

Do you get a lot of witches then?

Pesky witches.

I have one in a pot (by accident/laziness), it seems fairly happy. No berries yet though and it must be at least 3 years old by now.

meanmarie

ixwood wrote: »

Do you get a lot of witches then?

Pesky witches.

I have one in a pot (by accident/laziness), it seems fairly happy. No berries yet though and it must be at least 3 years old by now.

Didn't know that you could grow witches in a pot....

Lotus-eater

meanmarie wrote: »

Didn't know that you could grow witches in a pot....

It's only a toddler though, no problems from it yet.