Alder Buckthorn
Frangula alnus Mill.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 4.0 m
- wide
- 3.0 m
Rhamnaceae
Formerly Rhamnus frangula
When it flowers
JFMAMJJASOND
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
PetsNo pet-safety information yet
PeopleNC State Extension lists it as mildly poisonous (fruits) (25 Oct 2026)
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Shrub or treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Europe to C. Siberia and Xinjiang, NW. AfricaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 3.0 m to 4.9 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 2.4 m to 3.7 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, greenRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension cream, green, white; Wikipedia green, white
- Coldest it survives
- -45.6 °C (USDA zone 2a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- German
- Faulbaum, Echter Faulbaum
- Finnish
- korpipaatsama
- Dutch
- Sporkehout
- Chinese
- 欧鼠李
- Simplified Chinese
- 欧鼠李, 药炭鼠李, 药绿柴
- Arabic
- سدر
- Asturian
- sangüeñu, zangoñal, zangoñu
- Azerbaijani
- Qızılağacabənzər mürdəşər
- Bashkir
- Этмуйыл
- Belarusian
- Крушына ломкая
- Catalan
- Fràngula
- Czech
- krušina olšová
Where this comes from
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3D model: Frangula alnus (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.