How to identify wild fruits

Illustrations by Felicity Rose Cole

Vigorous hedgerow briar: our most common wild rose. Oval to flask-shaped scarlet rosehips.

Tiny, tomato-like annual with dull black berries. Not to be confused with poisonous deadly nightshade.

Low shrub of coastal dunes and chalk grassland. Unlike other wild roses produces purple-black hips.

Woody scrambler with red, oval, bitter-sweet berries. Also known as woody nightshade.

Small hedgerow shrub with garish clusters of coral-pink berries held in orange sheaths.

Britain’s only wild yam. Climbing tendrils twine around hedgerow plants. Red, poisonous berries.

Small hedgerow tree with flat clusters of edible black berries. Frothy white flowers in May–June.

Vigorous shrub that entwines around trees and hedgerow plants. Clusters of bright red berries.

Small or medium-sized thorny tree of hedgerows, rough ground and upland areas. Scarlet oval ‘haws’.

Upland tree with clusters of small, scarlet berries (popular with birds). Also known as mountain ash.

Often-overlooked tree of ancient woods. Clusters of brown, spotted fruits (once used to flavour beer).

Thorny tree with small, hard, yellow, apple-shaped fruits that can be used to make jelly.