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Perhaps you would share this with all who ask.
Cheers,
Marian
Marian C. Munro
Curator of Botany
Secretary, CBA/ABC
Nova Scotia Museum
Collections Section
1747 Summer St.
Halifax, NS B3H 3A6
Canada
902-424-3564
>>> Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> 09/20/06 10:58 AM >>>
Dave, your description of how aggressive Rhamnus frangula is near Kentville
also fits the Wolfville area very well indeed.
Just ask George Alliston about his least-favourite plant, whereever he
is trying to re-establish more natural plant communities.
A great example of buckthorn aggression can be found north of
Skyway Drive along the Acadia Woodland Trails (south of the Irving
Centre) -- oodles of R. frangula loaded with berries.
We also have a fair amount of Rhamnus cathartica in Wolfville, but it
seems to be much less aggressive. I am unfamiliar with R. alnifolia.
I don't know anything about edibility or other uses of the berries,
which are incredibly abundant in R. frangula.
And I wonder how important the fruits have become for wildlife?
Cheers from Jim in Wolfville
----------
From: David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>
Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:53:49 -0300
To: NatureNS@chebucto.ns.ca
Subject: [NatureNS] Buckthorn
Dear All, Sept 19, 2006
Does anyone have direct experience with Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula)
fruit ?
It took a while to get rolling, 300 years more or less, but near
Kentville it apparently now knows how introduced plants are supposed to
act and is very agressive in waste places, glades, clear-cuts and edges.
An extract of the bark (Frangula, which contains frangulin) was at
one time used as a laxative but I have no definite information on the
fruit. I have recently eaten one fruit, less seeds and skin, on each of
two occasions with no effects. A handfull might be a different matter
but the warning about R. alnifolia that 'Them is terrible things for the
guts' indicates caution. They were fairly sweet and juicy but without
obvious flavor.
I wonder if they could be used for wine.
Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
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