On Mar 15, 5:59*pm, NickH nick.hayes-
wrote:
Can anyone identify a tree I saw when visiting Croydon in October?
It has pea sized, deep violet berries, each of which has four or five
pink bracts behind it, trailing to form the shape of a shuttlecock.

I assume it is not a native - and, being a Scot, I'm the other alien!

--
NickH

Could be Leycestria formosa, Himalayan Honeysuckle. If you hold your
ear very close to the berries you will hear them whispering,
"Honeysuckle, Jim, but not as we know it."