Honeysuckle Berries

I was surprised to still see some honeysuckle in flower this week, it is quite late for them

 

and further along the vine were these

 

 

which is what I would expect to find at this time of year.

 

There is an old rhyme about wild berries in which one line reads " Red you could be dead"..well this is maybe not the case with honeysuckle berries as some varieties are edible and quite tasty, however the varieties most commonly found in deciduous wodlands tend to be slightly toxic, so it's best to avoid them.

 

The plant was often associated with the clinging embrace of lovers and used to be referred to as lovebind, now days it's changed to woodbind.

It was symbolic of a lovers embrace but also of jealousy when the embrace could strangulate..though when this happens in a hazel coppice, some very interesting sticks can be formed!