Buckthorn, Fineline

‘Ron Williams’ is an upright, columnar, freely branching, deciduous, alder buckthorn cultivar with fern-like foliage, few flowers and nonviable seed.
It grows slowly to 5-7’ tall but to only 2’ wide.
It acquires its columnar shape from its seed parent (F. alnus ‘Columnaris’) and its fern-like foliage from its pollen parent (F. alnus ‘Aspleniifolia’).
Linear, undulate, deeply cut, feathery foliage is medium green, but turns yellow in fall.
Small inconspicuous flowers (1/6” diameter) appear in clusters in May-June, but flowering is often sparse.
Species plants have limited value in the landscape in large part because they can be weedy and self-seed.
In contrast, seed development on ‘Ron Williams’ is unusual, with the few seeds that are produced being non-viable.
Often found in the nursery sold under the name FINE LINE.
U.S.
Plant Patent PP14,791 issued May 18, 2004.  Flowers are followed by inedible berries that ripen in July.
Berries change from green to red to dark purple as they mature.