partridgeberry

/pahr"trij ber'ee/, n., pl. partridgeberries.

a North American trailing plant, Mitchella repens, of the madder family, having roundish evergreen leaves, fragrant white flowers, and scarlet berries.

[1705-15; PARTRIDGE + BERRY]

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▪ plant

      (Mitchella repens), North American plant of the madder family (Rubiaceae), growing in dry woods from southwestern Newfoundland to Minnesota and southward to Florida and Texas. It is evergreen, with nearly round, 18-millimetre (0.7-inch) leaves, often variegated with white lines; a slender, often whitish, trailing stem; and white flowers, often borne in pairs, which are replaced by scarlet, edible but almost tasteless berrylike drupes. The flowers occur in long-styled and short-styled forms, as in the primrose. The plant, also called checkerberry, squawberry, teaberry, running box, two-eyed berry, squaw vine, and twinflower, is a good wild-garden plant for shady places. It is popular in winter terrariums because of its diminutive size and attractive colour contrast of berries and leaves.

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