Seeds ripen in October and can be collected then. It thrives best on neutral to calcareous well-drained to moist soils. Spindle is a hardy, light-loving species able to tolerate moderate shade, exposure and frost. The holly blue butterfly is also known to feed on spindle. The magpie moth, spindle ermine, the scorched carpet moth and a number of micro moths all feed on spindle.
It is an aphid rich tree so a favoured foraging ground for blue tits, great tits, robins and ladybirds. They are pollinated by St Mark’s fly so named as the adults emerge around St Mark’s day (25 April). The flowers of spindle are rich in nectar and an important food source for hoverflies, bees and other insects. Today it is used to make high-quality artists’ charcoal.īoth the leaves and fruit are toxic to humans. The fruits were baked and powdered and used to treat cattle for mange. Its stems can be used to make fine-pointed instruments such as knitting needles, skewers or toothpicks. In the past it was used to make ‘spindles’ for spinning and holding wool. Spindle timber is creamy white, hard and very dense ideal for making small delicate items. Spindle can be found occupying the shrub layer of ash, beech or yew woodland on calcareous soils.Ī much-loved cultivated variety commonly planted in gardens for its autumnal show of bright pink fruits and red foliage.
Spindle is insect pollinated.įound in woodlands and at the woodland edge, in scrub and hedgerows particularly on calcareous soils in England, Wales and Ireland. Fruits are a four-lobed pink capsule each lobe contains an orange seed. Flowers have four petals and four alternate stamens, white-green, three to ten together in stalked clusters. Spindle is hermaphrodite it has ‘perfect’ flowers with both sexes represented in one flower. Leaves are opposite, oval, finely toothed with a pointed tip (3–13cm). Lifespan: may live for well over 100 years.īark is smooth and grey, developing a pink-grey hue and fissuring with age. Spindle ( Euonymus europaeus) is a deciduous tree growing to 6m and flowering May to June. Spindle belongs to the genus Euonymus and is a member of the Spindle family ( Celastraceae).
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