Berry Beautiful Shrubs

The other day I headed to the sunny arboretum.  Right now I’m visiting with the viburnums across from the butterfly garden.  There are a lot of different ones and they all have their fruit showing.   It’s interesting to see all the different shades of red. Of course there’s always one that has to be different – one of the linden viburnums named Michael Dodge has yellow berries instead of red.  He’s right at the front of the planting bed, just showing off – thinks he’s something special I guess.

The funny thing is that he really doesn’t have berries.  He has drupe.  Plant scientists like to have very particular terms for plant parts.  I think sometimes they can be really persnickety about it, but it really makes sense if you are trying to precisely describe what a plant looks like.  It just all seems like Latin to me.  Anyway – a berry is a fleshy, pulpy fruit with lots of seeds in it – think strawberry, blackberry and tomato.  Yes!  A tomato can be considered a berry – kinda funny isn’t it.  Plants like viburnums make drupe, which is a fleshy fruit with only one seed inside.  Other plants that make drupe include dogwoods, hawthorns and hollies.  Most of the time I call them berries, just like everyone else.  At this time of year, however, when everyone starts to get excited about all the plants with showy berries, I like to bring them down a peg and remind them they are really just drupe-y old plants.  That quiets them for a minute or two, but not for long.

I won’t admit to them, but I do like all the berries (or drupe, if you will).  The Washington hawthorn on the other side of the arboretum looks fantastic right now, covered in red.  The white fruiting Japanese beautyberry nearby seems to have strings of popcorn draped across the five foot tall shrub while its purple fruiting cousins are just starting to show color.  The winterberry scattered across the road are just waiting for their leaves to drop so everyone will gawk at them.

Back at the entrance to the Native Plant Garden is another beautyberry, the American beautyberry, displaying its berries (drupe) in full glory.  These berries are larger than their Japanese counterparts and a very bright purple right now.  They cling close to the stem, peeking out from rows of large leaves.  Hiding shyly nearby is the American Euonymus.  This rather non-descript shrub is not very remarkable most of the year and even now does not stand out.  But the fruit, while not on the boastful levels of the hollies or viburnums, merits attention.  It does not have a berry or drupe, but a scarlet, warty almost spiky capsule that splits open to reveal bright reddish-orange seeds.  Because the capsule is so interesting, the plant is sometimes called strawberry-bush.  The seeds dangling from the open capsule have inspired another name – hearts-a-bustin’.  Both are great descriptors of this plant.  

The next time you are here, stop by and show some appreciation for the rarely applauded American euonymus.  While you are at it, admire the beautyberries, viburnums and hollies.  Just do it from a distance – they already have big egos.