Image: Leycesteria formosa colourful bracts stripped of fruit

Description: Single infructescence (minus fruit) of a dwarf specimen of Leycesteria formosa, the Pheasant Berry (family: Caprifoliaceae), growing chasmophytically in a crack in a garden wall in Berrington (North Northumberland). The ripe fruits have been stripped from the infructescence by birds, squirrels and probably also the wind (given the very exposed position in which the plant is growing). This fruit-free state here shows to advantage the structure of the involucres of wine-red bracts that subtend the pendent infructescence. These colourful bracts form the most attractive feature of this curious shrub of bamboo-like structure and were influential in its introduction to cultivation as an ornamental plant at the beginning of the 19th century. Note: the infructescences of this particular specimen are smaller and simpler than those of specimens growing in deep soil with unrestricted root growth, which tend to be longer and to develop a branching structure with multiple 'pendants'.
Title: Leycesteria formosa colourful bracts stripped of fruit
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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