Fuchsia
Fuchsia Magellanica
Edible Parts: Flowers & Fruits
Height: up to 3m
Usually 1-1.5m
Habitat: Hedges & Scrub
Family: Onagraceae
Seasons: Flowers - June - October Fruits July - October
Leaves are opposite but rather than pairs appear in threes along the stem.
The leaves are long ovals with a pointing towards the tip, they are very lightly serrated. With a darkening on the tip of the serration. The main vein down the rib of the plant carries the redness of the stalk into the leaf. The growing tips of the twigs/stems are also red.
Native to South America and introduced into Britains gardens it is now naturalised across large swathes of Britain and Ireland.
A highly distinctive flower.
The red tube of petals around the outside are actually sepals, protecting the much less open and smaller dark purple petals wrapped tightly inside. Hanging down below the height of the rest of the flower are 8 pink stamens. The anther which carries the pollen looks like a slipper has been stuck onto the side of the filament or stalk of the stamen. Hanging down further again almost another 1/3 is a single style with a stigma bulging at the base like a small drip of water forming at the end of the stalk.
Fuchsia’s can grow up to 3m high, but are often found as shrubby bushes around 1-1.5m tall.
They are in the Willowherb family, Onagraceae. Miles Irving talks about eating the fruits of the fuchsia’s in his neighbours garden. And Emma Gunn in Never Mind the Burdocks, uses the flowers to decorate cakes, or crystallised like violets. The fruits are said to vary in taste considerably between the different species, but can be used to make a jam. They can be drunk like a honey suckle to gain access to the nectar too, breaking off the green ovary at the base of the flower (this will swell to become the fruit if left alone) and sucking the back of the flower itself.
Different species and cultivars will flower at different times giving you a chance of collecting fuchsia flowers from June - October and fruits July - October.
The leaves are long ovals with a pointing towards the tip, they are very lightly serrated. With a darkening on the tip of the serration. The main vein down the rib of the plant carries the redness of the stalk into the leaf. The growing tips of the twigs/stems are also red.
Native to South America and introduced into Britains gardens it is now naturalised across large swathes of Britain and Ireland.
A highly distinctive flower.
The red tube of petals around the outside are actually sepals, protecting the much less open and smaller dark purple petals wrapped tightly inside. Hanging down below the height of the rest of the flower are 8 pink stamens. The anther which carries the pollen looks like a slipper has been stuck onto the side of the filament or stalk of the stamen. Hanging down further again almost another 1/3 is a single style with a stigma bulging at the base like a small drip of water forming at the end of the stalk.
Fuchsia’s can grow up to 3m high, but are often found as shrubby bushes around 1-1.5m tall.
They are in the Willowherb family, Onagraceae. Miles Irving talks about eating the fruits of the fuchsia’s in his neighbours garden. And Emma Gunn in Never Mind the Burdocks, uses the flowers to decorate cakes, or crystallised like violets. The fruits are said to vary in taste considerably between the different species, but can be used to make a jam. They can be drunk like a honey suckle to gain access to the nectar too, breaking off the green ovary at the base of the flower (this will swell to become the fruit if left alone) and sucking the back of the flower itself.
Different species and cultivars will flower at different times giving you a chance of collecting fuchsia flowers from June - October and fruits July - October.
Fuchsia
Fuchsia Magellanica
Edible Parts: Flowers & Fruits
Height: up to 3m
Usually 1-1.5m
Habitat: Hedges & Scrub
Family: Onagraceae
Seasons: Flowers - June - October Fruits July - October
Leaves are opposite but rather than pairs appear in threes along the stem.
The leaves are long ovals with a pointing towards the tip; they are very lightly serrated, with a darkening on the tip of the serration. The main vein down the rib of the plant carries the redness of the stalk into the leaf. The growing tips of the twigs/stems are also red.
Native to South America and introduced into Britain's gardens, it is now naturalised across large swathes of Britain and Ireland.
A highly distinctive flower.
The red tube of petals around the outside are actually sepals, protecting the much less open and smaller dark purple petals wrapped tightly inside.
Hanging down below the height of the rest of the flower are 8 pink stamens. The anther, which carries the pollen, looks like a slipper has been stuck onto the side of the filament or stalk of the stamen. Hanging down further again almost another 1/3 is a single style with a stigma bulging at the base like a small drip of water forming at the end of the stalk.
Fuchsias can grow up to 3m high, but are often found as shrubby bushes around 1-1.5m tall.
They are in the Willowherb family, Onagraceae. Miles Irving talks about eating the fruits of the fuchsias in his neighbor's garden. And Emma Gunn in *Never Mind the Burdocks*, uses the flowers to decorate cakes, or crystallized like violets. The fruits are said to vary in taste considerably between the different species, but can be used to make a jam. They can be drunk like a honeysuckle to gain access to the nectar too, breaking off the green ovary at the base of the flower (this will swell to become the fruit if left alone) and sucking the back of the flower itself.
Different species and cultivars will flower at different times giving you a chance of collecting fuchsia flowers from June - October and fruits from July - October.