Spindle
Euonymus europaeus
Its incredibly hard, dense wood was historically prized for making spinning spindles, while its charcoal is still favored by artists for its high quality.
- Scientific name
- Euonymus europaeus
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Celastrales › Celastraceae › Euonymus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Deciduous woodlands, forest edges, hedgerows, and scrublands, favoring chalky or limestone soils.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis)
- Range
- Europe, Western Asia, North America
- Size
- Shrub or small tree growing 3 to 6 meters (10 to 20 feet) tall
- Lifespan
- Up to 100 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss due to intensive agriculture, hedgerow removal, and over-pruning.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to touch, but highly toxic if ingested. Do not eat the bright pink and orange fruits, which contain harmful alkaloids. Keep pets and children away from the plant. If ingested, seek immediate medical attention.
Euonymus europaeus , the spindle , European spindle , or common spindle , is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae, native to much of Europe, where it inhabits the edges of forest, hedges and gentle slopes, tending to thrive on nutrient-rich, chalky and salt-poor soils. It is a deciduous shrub or small tree. Other names include fusoria, fusanum, ananbeam, shemshad rasmi (Iran), while it may have given its name to the ancient Greek settlement of Euonymeia.
Photo: Vedran Lastovčić, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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