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Frangula alnus
Also called Glossy buckthorn, Glossy False Buckthorn, Breaking Buckthorn, European Alder Buckthorn, Frangula
Frangula alnus is a non-spiny deciduous shrub or occasional small tree of Europe, North Africa and western Asia, grown for its wildlife value and tolerance of wet soils. It thrives in moist, acidic conditions in sun or moderate shade, though it grows less vigorously in deep shade.
Frangula alnus, commonly known as alder buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, or breaking buckthorn, is a tall deciduous shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. Unlike other "buckthorns", alder buckthorn does not have thorns. It is native to Europe, northernmost Africa, and western Asia, from Ireland and Great Britain north to the 68th parallel in Scandinavia, east to central Siberia and Xinjiang in western China, and south to northern Morocco, Turkey, and the Alborz in Iran and the Caucasus Mountains; in the northwest of its range (Ireland, Scotland), it is rare and scattered. It is also introduced and naturalised in eastern North America, where it tends to aggressively displace, even outcompete native plant species in forest understories with its seed banks, tolerance of deep shade such as that of late successional forests, and spontaneous, bird-driven recruitment in natural habitats.
Alder buckthorn grows in wet soils in open woods, scrub, hedgerows and bogs, thriving well in sunlight and moderate shade, but less vigorously in dense shade; it prefers acidic soils though will also grow on neutral soils.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Frangula alnus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
