Here are some “Christmas colors” that I saw in the woods today. This is a small, woody, trailing vine with 6-12 inch slender stems. It does not climb but instead lays on the forest floor.

Partridge Berry produces trumpet-shaped flowers from late spring to early summer. The flowers grow in pairs and have white petals. They are pollinated by insects. Afterwards each pair of flowers produces a single bright red berry. Here are flowers that I saw in June.

The berries contain eight seeds. Birds are the primary consumer of these fruits and therefore the main distributor of their seeds. For people, the berries are edible but rather tasteless, with a faint flavor of wintergreen.

The humble Partridge Berry is a plant often underfoot and overlooked, but during the cold days of winter, it is a treat to the eyes with its deep, dark-green leaves and rich red berries.

Third Eye Herp
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