| Bramble - Rubus fruticosus
    Blackberries© Robin Chittenden www.harlequinpictures.co.ukThis familiar shrub with arching, spiny stems produces the ubiquitous blackberry. The leaves, arranged on either side of the stem have five to seven oval leaflets. These can be prickly. The white or pink flowers hang in loose clusters at the end of the previous year's stems. In autumn, there is an abundant crop of fruit. Bramble spreads by means of arching stems that root on touching the ground. Its invasiveness can be controlled by regular pruning. Bramble more than pays for its inclusion in any garden with its enormous contribution to wildlife. It provides nest sites for at least a dozen small bird species. The leaves are the food plant of many moths. The flowers bring butterflies like meadow brown, speckled wood and brimstone and the fruit-laden branches in late summer will attract blackbird, song thrush and many other birds. Blackberries are also eaten by many small mammals. The droppings of birds eating this fruit are dyed a dark purplish red - something to bear in mind when deciding whether to put those white cotton sheets on the washing line! Despite a few drawbacks, bramble has to be one of the first choices in the wild part of the garden. AnimalsBank vole, Bees and wasps, Blackbird, Blackcap, Buff ermine moth, Bullfinch, Butterflies, Chiffchaff, Dormouse, Dunnock, Garden warbler, Gatekeeper, Greenfinch, Hedgehog, Herald moth, Linnet, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Moths, Oedemera nobilis, Song thrush, Wall brown, Whitethroat, Wood mouse, Wren, Yellowhammer | Foliage | Green | | Flower | White, May to September | | Moisture |  (Average) | | Sunlight |   (Full sun to Part-shade) | | Origin | Native |
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