Purging Buckthorn Hedging Plant (Rhamnus Cathartica)

Purging Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) is a dense, spiky native hedging plant that grows best on calcareous soils but tolerates most other soil types, including clay, chalk and light sandy ground. Suckering readily, Purging Buckthorn forms thick, thorny growth well suited to windy sites and higher altitudes, and can also grow well in partial shade. As one of only two food plants for Brimstone butterfly caterpillars, Purging Buckthorn holds real significance for wildlife, with its blossom also attracting adult Brimstones and its foliage feeding the larvae of tiger moths. Left unmanaged, Purging Buckthorn can reach up to 10 metres in height, and needs little cultivation once established.

As a hedge plant, Purging Buckthorn provides dense cover that draws in nesting birds and other wildlife searching for food and shelter.

A tough, low maintenance hedging plant, Purging Buckthorn is easy to establish on exposed or elevated sites where many other native species struggle.