*Scratch scratch scratch*

[puddingcat]

General bushness.

Unripe berries & out of focus flower.

Slightly better flower detail.

Ripening berries.

Berries, up close & personal.

More bush, showing arrangement of leaves.

It's enormous, the stems get really woody where they're thickest, and it grows like stink.

Comments

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I'm really upset. I thought this would be pictures of a miniature version of Kate Bush you'd somehow cloned, and were rearing for some purpose relating to circumventing international musical copyright law.

You shouldn't leave your lj-cut text so ambiguous. It can cause all manner of misunderstandings.

Possibly it could have been miniature clones of the band Bush.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

I know! I'm so sorry; I did prop mini-Kate up on one of the leaves, but she must have run off while the camera was auto-focussing. I *did* hear a faint mutter about something to do with the Cottingham Fairies, and model's rights.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

And then she was running up that hill...

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

So that's who the hounds of love were chasing!

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

And when she said "IT's in the trees! It's coming!" she was talking about YOUR bush!

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Just don't get me started on the typo on her record covers. It should, of course, have been "Babushka".

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

You do realise I'm going to have Kate's Bush in my head all night now, and it's all your fault?

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Better to be you with Kate's Bush in your head, than the man with the child in his eyes :p

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I think it might be a snowberry, but there are some bits that don't quite fit. Does it normally fruit later in the year than this?

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

No; it usually fruits in summer. The ripest berries are the ones directly in the sun.

I've had a quick Google, and the description of the flowers doesn't really match. The whole bush is a good 2.5m tall, as well.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Will continue looking.

[the-mendicant.livejournal.com]

a fine bush, which you are justly proud of!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

It could be a viburnum variant - or what they used to call a 'gillyflower'
(*doesn't really know but half remembers bush from parents' house some time ago*)

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

P.S. Have just googled and am almost certain it's viburnum but that should have read guelder rose, and not gillyflower.

[cabd.livejournal.com]

I can see why you would think that, but it isn't. The leaves are wrong, the stems are wrong, and the clusters of fruit in a guelder rose don't hang in quite that way. Guelder rose is as common as muck as a wildling around here, I know it well.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

In that case I haven't a clue!!

[pmoodie.livejournal.com]

I'll show El your bush tonight, she'll know what it is. Possibly. If not, I'll give her a suitable amount of mockery.

[cabd.livejournal.com]

Thats a white berried dogwood. Can't immediately remeber the scientific name, but thats pretty certainly what it is.

Toxic, I'm afraid. But it is pretty, and having white berries usually means that the birds don't see them straight away, they linger on later than berries do on black and red berried shrubs.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Aha, thank you! Yes; the pictures via Google look spot on. It certainly is pretty, and is always full of small birds.

So, my itching is more likely to be a result of its toxicity than an allergy? That would be good news :)

[cabd.livejournal.com]

Errm... Dogwood is sometimes used as a treatment for skin rashes, so its probably just a reaction to being scratched up by something that has some activity there. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but I'd wear longer sleeves and gloves if you have to cut it again! I don't recall it being a common cause of dermatitis, but it wouldn't surprise me if it gives you some itch.