Scientific name: Solanum dulcamara L.
Common name: Bittersweet
Description
Habit: Perennial, to 2 m high.
Stems: Slender, scrambling, trailing or twining stems woody at the base.
Leaves: Alternate, stalked, without stipules, entire; lower leaves undivided, oval, upper leaves sometimes with 3 leaflets, the central largest.
Flowers: Purple, rarely white, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, 15 mm across, in cymes of about 10 flowers; sepals 5, united to form a funnel-shaped, small calyx; petals 5, fused into tube which is 5-lobed, corolla tube short, star-shaped, lobes spreading; stamens 5, attached to the corolla-tube; style solitary, ovary superior, 2-celled.
Fruits: A red berry, ovoid and 10 mm long.
Habitat: Shingle-beaches, stony lake-shores, less commonly in ditches or thickets or on riverbanks.Distribution: Abundant to frequent in several localities.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No