Spindle

Information on Spindle

Common Name: Spindle
Scientific Name: Euonymus europaeus
Irish Name: Feoras
Family Group: Celastraceae
Distribution: View Map (Courtesy of the BSBI)
Flowering Period


Click for list of all flowering by month
Spindle is not easily confused with other wild plants on this web site.


Found in hedgerows and mainly on calcareous soils, Spindle is a particularly stunning sight in autumn. At that time its narrow, toothed, oval-shaped leaves turn a flame red colour and its distinctive four-lobed coral-pink berries open up to reveal bright-orange seed-coverings inside. It all goes to create an amazingly colourful picture which is hard to forget. These much-branched trees can grow to six metres, bearing inconspicuous, green four-petalled flowers (7–10mm) in May and June. This little tree is a native and it belongs to the Celastraceae family.

I first recorded and photographed this plant on the slopes of Slieve Carron in County Clare in 2010. 

If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre

The wood of the Spindle tree is extremely hard and, as one might guess, was used in the manufacturing of spindles for wool-spinning. 

Spindle
Spindle
Spindle
Spindle