In message , K
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
In message ,
writes
http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv14/pousser/5.jpg
Small leaf, very compact.

My first thought was privet, but your description doesn't agree. Maybe
privet honeysuckle (Lonicera pileata).

Yes, I think so. Others have suggested cotoneaster, but the leaves
don't look quite right (are Cotoneaster leaves opposite?).

It does flower, but the flowers are very small and greenish yellow on
the underside of the branches, so I can understand why one poster says
it doesn't flower.


http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv14/pousser/3.jpg
?
Looks like a willow-herb (Epilobium), but I'm not completely sure.

I don't like those extra tufts of 'leaves' in the leaf axils - not seen
that on an Epilobium. Sacha suggested Lysimachia (yellow loosestrife),
and it looks more like that, but I think it's probably Lythrum (purple
loosestrife). Without going outside to check, it's looking very much
like mine is at the moment.


I was a little bothered by the beginnings of side-shoots as well, but I
was out pruning the dead wood out of a Lavatera this afternoon, and
there was a willow-herb underneath it looking just like the photograph.
Willow-herbs do branch sometimes, when growing in less harsh conditions.
(As colour and texture tend to be distorted in photographs jizz can lead
you - or me - astray when identifying plants from photographs.)

Willow-herbs are easily uprooted, so there would be no great harm
waiting to see what it flowers as.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley