I think of those images which burned their way into my visual memory over the past couple of days wandering in Gloucestershire: the dark mass that is the ancient tree trunk of the Tortworth chestnut; blood dripping from a wound on a ram's head; the shining silver Severn seen from the Cotswold edge; blue flowers of nettle-leaved bellflower and the red berries of a wayfaring tree.

There are two wild British species worth considering mainly for their red autumn leaves: Viburnum opulus, the guelder-rose, and Viburnum lantana, the wayfaring tree.