red berries | nichepoetryandprose

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Posts Tagged ‘red berries’

haws and sharps

As we trim our roads at our cabin, we sometimes get into arguments over what shrubs should stay and what should go. Most decisions are easy: mountain birch and willow are numerous on the property and will grow back; oak and maple are always kept because of their beauty and relative scarcity; alders disappear without the slightest consideration. However, whether to keep the hawthorn (Cretaegus) or let it grow, always takes some wrangling.

The Hawthorn is a woody shrub or bush with sharp thorns, growing in thickets and along rivers, lakes and coastal areas. Hawthorn is also called Red Haw. The red, fleshy fruit is used to make tea, jelly or jam.

I think the shrub should be kept just for its beauty. Who could resist those bright red haws?

My husband wants it gone. The thorns are long and sharp enough to pierce an ATV tire or scratch a truck.

Who wins the argument? Beauty always prevails. Even those thorns have their own, terrible, loveliness.

risk

Hawthorn (Cretaegus spp.)

each fall, the hawthorn bleeds

with berries, impales

with thorns

berries are difficult to gather

easier to flood, with red

imagination

to strip the bush of every drop

Cretaegus draws

so choose –

ignore the feast, or risk

a bleed to pick a berry

collude with birds

see how waxwings hover

twig to twig, manoeuvre

in the thorns

haws, of course, not wasted –

what red the thrushes leave

will rot

nourish another season

poem from within easy reach (Chapel Street Editions, 2016) –

one poem of many to celebrate the edible wild …

to order a copy of the book, contact Chapel Street Editions

All my best,

Jane

Written by jane tims

October 1, 2018 at 11:26 am

Posted in growing and gathering, within easy reach

Tagged with Cretaegus, decisions, Hawthorn, red berries, thorns

Partridge-berry (Mitchella repens L.)

with 6 comments

One of the evergreen plants in the spring woodland is a little vine called Partridge-berry. It trails, low to the ground, in shady, mossy woods, sometimes covering moist banks and hummocks with its shiny greenery.

Partridge-berry (Mitchella repens L.) is also known as Twinberry, Snakevine, Running Fox and Two-eyed Berry. The word repens is from the Latin for ‘creeping’.

The leaves of Partridge-berry are small, ovoid and opposite on a vine-like stem. The leaves have a bright yellow midrib and veins, giving them a clear outline against the background of dry leaves.

The flowers are white or pinkish, and bell-shaped. They occur in pairs – the two flowers are closely united at the base, sharing a single calyx. As a result, the bright red berries are two-eyed, each showing two blossom scars.

This time of year, in July, Partridge-berry has flowered and set its berries. The berries are dry and seedy but edible, with a slightly aromatic flavour. They are a good nibble along the trail or can be used as emergency food. The berries are ordinarily eaten by birds, such as the Ruffed Grouse.

Warning:

1. never eat any plant if you are not absolutely certain of the identification;

2. never eat any plant if you have personal sensitivities, including allergies, to certain plants or their derivatives;

3. never eat any plant unless you have checked several sources to verify the edibility of the plant.

common names

( Mitchella repens L.)

Running Fox

a glimpse of red

between hairmoss and hummock

the fox slips into shrewd spaces

seeks the vacant way

Snakevine