Mitchella repens

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Partridge berry
Mitchella repens Partridge berry Norfolk Connecticut 05112019.jpg
Leaves and berry
Mitchella repens - Partridge Berry.jpg
Flowers and berry
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Mitchella
Species:
M. repens
Binomial name
Mitchella repens
L.

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).

Contents

Names

Mitchella repens is one of the many species first described by Carl Linnaeus. Its species name is the Latin adjective repens, which means "creeping". Common names for Mitchella repens include partridge berry, [1] [2] [3] [4] [lower-alpha 1] squaw vine, [5] [lower-alpha 2] twin berry, [6] [7] [lower-alpha 3] two-eyed berry, [8] running box, [7] checker berry [7] [lower-alpha 4] and tea berry [7] [lower-alpha 5] in English.

In aboriginal languages, it is known as binemiin, binemin and binewimin in Ojibwe, [8] noon-yeah-ki'e oo-nah'yea in Onondaga [9] and fiːtó imilpá in Koasati (Coushatta). [7]

Description

The partridge berry is an evergreen plant growing as a non-climbing vine, no taller than 6 cm tall with creeping stems 15 to 30 cm long. The evergreen, dark green, shiny leaves are ovate to cordate in shape. The leaves have a pale yellow midrib. The petioles are short, and the leaves are paired oppositely on the stems. Adventitious roots may grow at the nodes; [6] and rooting stems may branch and root repeatedly, producing loose spreading mats.

The small, trumpet-shaped, axillary flowers are produced in pairs, and each flower pair arises from one common calyx which is covered with fine hairs. Each flower has four white petals, one pistil, and four stamens. Partridge berry is a distylous taxon. The plants have flowers with either long pistils and short stamens (long-styled flowers, called pins) or short pistils and long stamens (short-styled flowers, called thrums). [10] The two style morphs are genetically determined, so the pollen from one morph does not fertilize the other morph, resulting in a form of heteromorphic self-incompatibility. [11]

Partridge berry (Mitchella repens) Mitchella.repens02.jpg
Partridge berry (Mitchella repens)
Foliage, inflorescence, and unopened blossom Mitchella repens 03.jpg
Foliage, inflorescence, and unopened blossom
Berries Mitchella repens, berries.jpg
Berries

The ovaries of the twin flowers fuse together, so that there are two flowers for each berry. The two bright red spots on each berry are vestiges of this process. The fruit ripens between July and October, and may persist through the winter. The fruit is a drupe containing up to eight seeds. The fruits are never abundant. They may be part of the diets of several birds, such as ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, northern bobwhite, and wild turkey. They are also consumed by foxes, white-footed mice, and skunks. [12] [13] The foliage is occasionally consumed by white-tailed deer. [14]

The common reproduction is vegetative, with plants forming spreading colonies. [15]

Distribution and habitat

The species is dispersed 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.

Cultivation and uses

Mitchella repens is cultivated for its ornamental red berries and shiny, bright green foliage. [15] 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. [16] The plants have been widely collected for Christmas decorations, and over collecting has impacted some local populations negatively. [15] The plants are sometimes grown in terrariums. [17]

The scarlet berries are edible [18] but rather tasteless, with a faint flavour of wintergreen, resembling cranberries (to which they are not closely related). First Nations women[ which? ] made a tisane from the leaves and berries that was consumed during childbirth; [15] the Menominees used the leaves for a drink to cure insomnia. [7]

Traditionally, the plant had numerous medicinal uses including as a diuretic (by the Cherokee and Iroquois), a diaphoretic (Cherokee), for women's problems or reproductive issues (Cherokee, Delaware, Iroquois), and as an analgesic or to reduce fever or swelling (Abenaki, Iroquois, Montagnais). [7]

Notes

  1. Or partridgeberry. This name sometimes refers to Vaccinium vitis-idaea (the lingonberry), but wild partridgeberry is more common for that species.
  2. Or squaw berry.
  3. Or twinberry.
  4. This name usually refers to Gaultheria procumbens (the American wintergreen).
  5. This name usually refers to Gaultheria procumbens (the American wintergreen).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruit</span> Seed-bearing part of a flowering plant

In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.

<i>Mitchella</i> Genus of flowering plants

Mitchella is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is found from China to temperate eastern Asia, and from eastern Canada to Guatemala.

<i>Vaccinium vitis-idaea</i> Species of shrub with edible fruit

Vaccinium vitis-idaea, the lingonberry, partridgeberry, mountain cranberry or cowberry, is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae, that bears edible fruit. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Europe and Asia to North America. Lingonberries are picked in the wild and used to accompany various dishes, primarily in Sweden. Commercial cultivation is undertaken in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lythraceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Lythraceae is a family of flowering plants, including 32 genera, with about 620 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees. The larger genera include Cuphea, Lagerstroemia (56), Nesaea (50), Rotala (45), and Lythrum (35). It also includes the pomegranate and the water caltrop. Lythraceae has a worldwide distribution, with most species in the tropics, but ranging into temperate climate regions as well.

<i>Gaultheria shallon</i> Species of flowering plant

Gaultheria shallon is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. In English, it is known as salal, shallon, or gaultheria.

<i>Symphoricarpos</i> Genus of flowering plants in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae

Symphoricarpos, commonly known as the snowberry, waxberry, or ghostberry, is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. With the exception of the Chinese coralberry, S. sinensis, which is indigenous to western China, all species are native to North and Central America. The name of the genus is derived from the Ancient Greek words συμφορεῖν (sumphoreîn), meaning "to bear together", and καρπός (karpós), meaning "fruit". It refers to the closely packed clusters of berries the species produces.

<i>Gaultheria procumbens</i> Species of flowering plant

Gaultheria procumbens, also called the eastern teaberry, the checkerberry, the boxberry, or the American wintergreen, is a species of Gaultheria native to northeastern North America from Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba, and south to Alabama. It is a member of the Ericaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wintergreen</span> Small shrub in the Heath family

Wintergreen is a group of aromatic plants. The term "wintergreen" once commonly referred to plants that remain green throughout the winter. The term "evergreen" is now more commonly used for this characteristic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heterostyly</span> Two different types of flowers (style) on same plant

Heterostyly is a unique form of polymorphism and herkogamy in flowers. In a heterostylous species, two or three morphological types of flowers, termed "morphs", exist in the population. On each individual plant, all flowers share the same morph. The flower morphs differ in the lengths of the pistil and stamens, and these traits are not continuous. The morph phenotype is genetically linked to genes responsible for a unique system of self-incompatibility, termed heteromorphic self-incompatibility, that is, the pollen from a flower on one morph cannot fertilize another flower of the same morph.

<i>Mertensia virginica</i> Species of flowering plant

Mertensia virginica is a spring ephemeral plant in the Boraginaceae (borage) family with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers, native to eastern North America.

<i>Ranunculus acris</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus acris is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, and is one of the more common buttercups across Europe and temperate Eurasia. Common names include meadow buttercup, tall buttercup, common buttercup and giant buttercup.

<i>Epigaea repens</i> Species of flowering plant

Epigaea repens, the mayflower, trailing arbutus, or ground laurel, is a low, spreading shrub in the family Ericaceae. It is found from Newfoundland to Florida, west to Kentucky and the Northwest Territories.

<i>Jeffersonia</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the barberry family

Jeffersonia, also known as twinleaf or rheumatism root, is a small genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Berberidaceae. They are uncommon spring wildflowers and grow in limestone soils of rich deciduous forests. Jeffersonia was named for United States President Thomas Jefferson by his contemporary Benjamin Smith Barton. This genus was formerly grouped in genus Podophyllum. Twinleaf is protected by state laws as a threatened or endangered plant in Georgia, Iowa, New York, and New Jersey.

<i>Caulophyllum</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the barberry family

Caulophyllum is a small genus of perennial herbs belonging to the family Berberidaceae and closely related to the Eurasian genera Leontice and Gymnospermium. It is native to eastern Asia and eastern North America. These plants are distinctive spring wildflowers, which grow in moist, rich woodland, it is known for its large triple-compound leaf, and large blue, berry-like fruits. Unlike many spring wildflowers, it is not an ephemeral plant and persists throughout much of the summer. Common names for plants in this genus include blue cohosh, squaw root, and papoose root. As hinted at by its common names, this plant is well known as an alternative medicine for inducing childbirth and menstrual flow; it is also considered a poisonous plant.

Gaultheria humifusa is a species of shrub in the heath family which is known by the common names alpine wintergreen and alpine spicy wintergreen. It is native to western North America, from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in moist subalpine mountain forests. It is a low, spreading shrub which may be quite small, forming flat patches on the ground or amongst rock and leaf litter. The stems are less than 20 cm (7.9 in) in length and have small oval-shaped leaves 1 to 2 cm long. It bears solitary bell-shaped flowers with white to light pink corollas and golden anthers which, after pollination, mature into bright to dull red berrylike fruit capsules. The leaves and fruit of Gaultheria humifusa are edible.

<i>Gaultheria ovatifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Gaultheria ovatifolia is a species of shrub in the heath family which is known by the common names western teaberry and Oregon spicy wintergreen. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in high mountain forests. This is a small, low shrub with stems only about 35 cm (14 in) in maximum length. The pointed, oval-shaped leaves are 2 to 3 cm long and green. The plant bears small, solitary bell-shaped flowers in shades of white to very light pink with reddish bracts. The flowers hang like tiny bells. The fruit is a red berrylike capsule. It was a food for the Hoh and Quileute of the Pacific Northwest.

<i>Dalibarda</i> Genus of flowering plants

Dalibarda repens(dewdrop, false violet, star violet, Robin runaway. French Canadian: dalibarde rampante) is a perennial plant in the rose family, native to eastern and central Canada and to the northeastern and north-central United States. It is the only species in the genus Dalibarda, which is closely allied with the genus Rubus. The species is often included in the genus Rubus as Rubus repens (L.) Kuntze. It is fairly easily grown in shady locations in damp to wet, acidic soils, and is frequently used in wildflower and bog gardens as a ground-cover.

<i>Gaultheria hispidula</i> Species of plant

Gaultheria hispidula, commonly known as the creeping snowberry or moxie-plum, and known to Micmaq tribes of Newfoundland as Manna Teaberry, is a perennial spreading ground-level vine of the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to North America and produces small white edible berries. It fruits from August to September. Its leaves and berries taste and smell like wintergreen.

<i>Kalmiopsis fragrans</i> Species of flowering plant

Kalmiopsis fragrans is a rare species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common name North Umpqua kalmiopsis. It is endemic to Oregon in the United States, where there are just a few known populations, all within Douglas County.

References

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