Help with more fruit ID?

[hypnoticmonkey]

Hi all, sorry for all the questions.

I've just been walking home from town when I came across a few things which look potentially fermentable.

Any idea what this is?

It looks like a black currant but its on a tree and the leaves are all wrong. Then I thought it might be black cherry, like these:

http://joshfecteau.com/foraging-wild-fr ... ck-cherry/

The leaves look closer but the leaves on mine are a lot bigger than those cherry leaves. Plus these fruits are quite small (although so are the cherries in that guy's hand in the pic).

Any ideas?

Also, I think these are sloes but they're smaller and less abundant than the sloes I've typically seen down south.

 

[Titus A Duxass]

The lower ones are Sloes.

 

[wilsoa1111]

yep i would say sloes aswell

 

[asd]

The top ones look like laurel - they are poisonous.

S

 

[graysalchemy]

Yes they do look like it

Have a look here

http://www.fruitipedia.com/English laurel fruits.jpg

They look the same as your photo.

that website does say

The fruits are edible, although rather bland and somewhat astringent. Flavour resembles that of apricots, plums and peaches to which English laurel is related.

However Wikipedia says

The seed of the fruit may cause severe discomfort to humans if ingested.[11] The seeds contained within the cherries are poisonous like the rest of the plant, containing cyanogenic glycosides and amygdalin.[12] This chemical composition is what gives the smell of almonds when the leaves are crushed.

I wouldn't use them.

 

[asd]

Laurel leaves were used in killing jars which were used in the old days (i.e. 1960's when I was young) by butterfly collectors - they give off enough cyanide vapour when crushed to kill insects... The berries may be safe, but I wouldn't use them.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

Thanks for the advice! I'll steer clear of the laurels, then!