Coriaria ruscifolia

The roots of Coriaria terminalis have a love of soil water sending sucker growth away from the woody root. Located through low altitude Asia where it grows on lake and river sides in valleys.

In the pond side borders at the Garden it is a low growing woody sub shrub with terminal sprays of berries. Shiny red and very showy, the fleshy part is formed from the petals of the flowers which hang in racemes at the terminal end of the current season’s growth.

Coriaria ruscifolia

As the flower matures the petals thicken and fold over the embryo seeds. On maturity the five segments of the fleshy berry can be observed folded together. The shoots, covered in regularly placed opposite leaves arc randomly near the ground. It is probably worth pruning in late spring when growth is about to break. This will increase the amount of flowering stems and preserve the low growing habit.