An attractive shrub with large heads of attractive creamy flowers, red, then red and black berries. It has rather rounded, simple toothed leaves.

Will do well on most soils, but is especially good on chalk.

The fragrant flower heads can be seen in spring and early summer.

Perennial.

Fairly frequent in central and southern England but more scattered elsewhere.

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 10 of the 617 tetrads.