Image: Leycesteria formosa - base with stems of different ages

Description: The base of a cultivated specimen of Leycesteria formosa Wall. growing in a flower bed in the village of Paxton in the Scottish Borders. Note the stems of various ages and colours - the oldest with grey bark and the younger ones in various shades of green, purple and wine-red. This shrub is a popular garden plant in the UK, grown for its pendent strings of pale flowers subtended by deep pink bracts. It was introduced from its native Himalayas as an ornamental and as food for pheasants - hence the main English common name "pheasant berry" - raised as game birds who relish the ripe fruits. When fully ripe, the fruits are also edible by humans, having a mild caramel/chocolate flavour, although they are bitter and acrid when unripe. The plant is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat a number of ailments and the hollow stems have been used in India to make whistles and flutes.
Title: Leycesteria formosa - base with stems of different ages
Credit: Own work
Author: Flobbadob
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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