Bittersweet
Bittersweet - Solanum dulcamara
Scrambling plant with stems sometimes reaching 2 metres. Leaves arrow shaped or heart shaped. Flowers purple with pale yellow anthers (very rarely white), 10 to 15 mm nodding with reflexed petals. Berry egg shaped, shiny and red when ripe.
Woods, hedgerows and scrub.
June to September.
Perennial.
Very common throughout Britain except in the extreme north.
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 600 of the 617 tetrads.
David Nicholls
Martinshaw Wood
20 August 2009
Alan Semper
Melton Country Park
04 August 2015
rare white form
David Nicholls
Groby Pool
15 September 2005
fruits
Graham Calow
Sapcote
26 May 2016
leaves 'Wash Pit' Sapcote SP 4850 9366 (taken 11.8.2008).JPG)
Graham Calow
Wash Pit, Sapcote
11 August 2008
flowers
 'Wash Pit' Sapcote SP 4850 9366 (taken 11.8.2008).JPG)
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Additional images
 Sharnford Road Sapcote SP 4930 9277 (taken 3.7.2007).JPG)
All NatureSpot records
Acrolepia autumnitella
The larvae of the moth Acrolepia autumnitella mine the leaves of Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) or occasionally Deadly Nightshade forming large whitish or translucent blotches.
Scrobipalpa costella
The larvae of the moth Scrobipalpa costella mine the leaves of Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) starting in the midrib and then causing dark blotches in the leaf blade beside the midrib or main vein.