The Duche men call it in Netherlande, spilboome, that is, spindel-tree, because they use to make spindels of it in that country, and me thynke it may be as well named in English seying we have no other name.
'I coulde never learne an Englishe name for it. Turner apparently christened the tree Spindle Tree. The same hardness that fitted it for skewers, spindles, etc., made it useful for the ox-goad. Gatter is from the Anglo-Saxon words, gad (a goad) and treow (a tree) gatten is made up of gad again and tan (a twig) and gadrise is from gad and hris (a rod).' Chaucer, in one of his poems, calls it gaitre. In old herbals it is called Skewerwood or prickwood (the latter from its employment as toothpicks), and gatter, gatten, or gadrose. In allusion to the actively irritating properties of the shrub, its name Euonymus is associated with that of Euonyme, the mother of the Furies. The fruit is given three or four as a dose, as a purgative in rural districts and the decoction, adding some vinegar, is used as a lotion for mange in horses and cattle. By the Italians it is still called Fusano. The Latin name for Spindle is Fusus, and by some of the old writers this plant is called Fusanum and the Fusoria. The bark, leaves and fruit are all injurious, and no animal but the goat will browse upon them.
The berries attract children, but are harmful, for they are strongly emetic and purgative: they have proved fatal to sheep. This yields a good yellow dye when boiled in water, and a green one with the addition of alum, but these dyes are fugitive. The fruit is three or more lobed, and becomes a beautiful rose-red colour it bursts when ripe, disclosing ruddy-orange-coloured seeds, which are wrapped in a scarlet arillus. It bears small greenish-white flowers, in loose clusters, during May and June, followed by an abundance of fruits. The leaves have very short stalks, are opposite in pairs and have minute teeth on the margin. Description-The Spindle Tree found in our hedges and copses is a smooth-leaved shrub.
Spindle Tree Botanical: Euonymus atropurpureus, Euonymus Europoeus (JACQ.)
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