The small fruits are a sweet foraging treat. You can eat then straight from the shrub. You can also chop them and eat with cereal, pancakes, salads etc. The dried leaves make a vitamin C rich tea.
Will grow into a very large tree if not coppiced. Often slender for a big tree, tapering towards the top. In woodland, it will develop a very tall, straight trunk.
Messy-looking, dense, twiggy, spiny, spreading. Generally looks like a big bush rather than a tree. Can form impenetrable thickets. Can be surrounded by suckers. Hard to see any central trunk.