Tag: flowers

vandaliatraveler:

Autumn Berries, Volume 10: Partridge Berry. 

Partridge berry (Mitchella repens) is a creeping, evergreen vine whose delicate, trailing stems repeatedly branch and take root in the rich humus to form a beautiful, deep-green carpet of leaves between fallen logs and snaking tree roots and along sandy stream banks. A lover of full to part shade and dry to moist, acidic soil, this earth-hugging perennial produces opposing pairs of small, rounded leaves along the lengths of its slender, somewhat woody stems; the foliage retains a rich, deep green appearance through the worst of the winter season, making it a go-to ground cover for native plant gardeners. In late spring to early summer, the vines erupt in pairs of radiant white, trumpet-shaped flowers, which despite their tiny sizes collectively form one of the loveliest wildflower shows of the Appalachian forest. Bright red berries follow the flowers in the fall and provide a valuable food source for birds throughout the winter. The berries, which persist through the following spring, are edible but with no distinctive flavor. Native American women ate the berries and made an extract from the leaves to prevent miscarriage and premature birth, which resulted in the plant’s other common – and nowadays derogatory – name, squaw vine.