This magical shrub, which is excruciatingly ordinary during the spring and summer months, suddenly takes on brilliant color in fall and winter. This is “winterberry,” a kind of native deciduous holly. The cultivated varieties of holly you can buy in a plant nursery have very shiny, pointy, dark evergreen leaves. They are the “poster child” for holly plants, the ones you see in all the Christmas photos. But there are other holly plants out there that don’t get enough credit.
The winterberry is one such
holly. It is native to eastern North
America and southeastern Canada. Unlike Christmas holly, its leaves are not
dramatically pointy or evergreen. It is
a deciduous plant and loses all its leaves in the fall. It is also much bigger than cultivated holly
and grows very quickly--one to three feet per year. It loves wet, acidic soils, and so the soil
of Maine is
just perfect for it. Like most hollies,
the winterberry has male plants and female plants. Only the female plants bear the bright red
berries, and a male plant must be in reasonable proximity for this to occur. It’s hard for me to grasp the idea of a plant
being a “boy” or a “girl,” as most plants contain both elements. Holly is one of those odd exceptions.
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| Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) has such brilliant red berries! |
What I like about winterberry is
that it loses all of its leaves. Even though
most of us crave greenery in the winter, it is so striking to see brilliant red
berries on bare bony branches.
Apparently, the birds feel the same way since these berries are an
important food source for them during the winter. It is quite a wonderful sight when snow falls
and covers all the branches and twigs, yet somehow the bright red berries seem
to escape the snow and standout even more brilliantly. If you want to use the twigs and berries in
decorations, it’s best to collect them in late November before other food
sources are depleted and the birds start getting ideas about the
berries.
Medicinal lore tells us that a tea
was once made by boiling the bark, which was used for fevers. The berries were also used as a cathartic and
to expel intestinal worms. The seeds,
bark, and leaves all contain theobromine, which is also found in chocolate and
is a stimulant nearly identical to the caffeine in coffee. In small doses, it mildly stimulates the
nervous system, similar to a cup of coffee.
Like caffeine, theobromine taken in large quantities can cause
dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, and an elevated pulse rate.
But I don’t collect winterberry
for medicinal purposes as I do with many other herbs. I just enjoy looking at the berries in the
dead of winter while I pine away for the spring. I can’t help but wonder if plants like these
exist simply to ease our loneliness in the dark winter months. There is something about the color red that
makes an unspoken promise of life to come.
(Yes, I have to put a disclaimer
in. This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to
diagnose, treat, or cure any ailment. If you need medical advice, seek a
physician.)
