This low shrub is rapidly colonising the edges of the tracks through the pine plantation near us. It's an escapee from ornamental gardens, commonly called St John's wort, sweet amber, or tutsan. The bright yellow flowers give way to....
...yellow-green and then red berries which steadily turn to black. It's noticeable that the berries stay on the plant until late in the winter, suggesting that the local birds don't really like them.
Often growing near it is this little plant. I've assumed that it's a wild relative, apparently also called St John's wort to confuse people like me, a confusion made worse by....
....bog asphodel, which looks at first sight very like it but is confined to marshy areas up on the moorlands above Golspie.
The two wild plants can easily be distinguished by their leaves. Wild St John's wort....
....has, like its domestic cousin, paired leaves growing either side of a stalk while....
....bog asphodel has long leaves which grow up from its base.
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