FRUITFUL HEDGEROWS 



berries ; but they have so many half-ripe 

 shades of crimson and orange that they fill 

 the hedges with endless attractive con- 

 trasts. Privet-berries change from green 

 to black without any intervening shade of 

 crimson ; and the same is true of the berries 

 of the buckthorn, which are also con- 

 spicuous in many autumn hedges in chalky 

 districts. Alder buckthorn, with its blunt- 

 tipped leaves like those of the alder, bears 

 smaller and looser clusters, and is gener- 

 ally found on sandy and not calcareous 

 soils. But unripe elder - berries have 

 almost as many shades of crimson as 

 and they all make a characteristic contrast with any 

 shade of scarlet or orange. The gradations of colour are 

 essentially different in each case. Woody nightshade hangs 

 small but abundant clusters of scarlet berries about many 

 hedgerows and thickets, often opening its purple and yellow 

 blossoms on the same stem as ripe and half-ripe fruits. 

 Deadly nightshade never becomes a climber as the woody 

 nightshade does when it can ; it is a bushy herbaceous plant 

 about a yard high, and its very poisonous berries are like 

 black cherries. They ripen in August, but the plant does 

 not die down till the middle or end of October. It is 

 much rarer than the woody nightshade, but is sometimes 



BLACK BRYONY 



blackberries ; 



