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Mitchella repens
Also called Partridge Berry, Squawvine, Running Box, Two Eyed Berry, Twinberry, Pigeon Plum, Turkeyberry
Partridgeberry is a small evergreen creeping ground cover from eastern North America, forming low mats with shiny dark green leaves and scarlet berries. It thrives in shade with moist, well-drained soil.
Mitchella repens (commonly partridge berry or squaw vine) is the best known plant in the genus Mitchella. It is a creeping prostrate herbaceous woody shrub occurring in North America belonging to the madder family (Rubiaceae).
Mitchella repens is cultivated for its ornamental red berries and shiny, bright green foliage. It is grown as a creeping ground cover in shady locations. It is rarely propagated for garden use by way of seeds but cuttings are easy. The plants have been widely collected for Christmas decorations, and over collecting has affected some local populations negatively. The plants are sometimes grown in terrariums.
The scarlet berries are edible but rather tasteless, with a faint flavour of wintergreen, resembling cranberries (to which they are not closely related). Indigenous American women made a tisane from the leaves and berries that was consumed during childbirth; the Menominees used the leaves for a drink to cure insomnia.
The species is distributed throughout eastern North America, from south Eastern Canada south to Florida and Texas, and to Guatemala. It is found growing in dry or moist woods, along stream banks and on sandy slopes.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mitchella repens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
