Plant Family: Aquifoliaceae
Growth Form: Thicket forming shrub to 4 meters tall.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, finely toothed, deciduous, variable in shape, from lanceolate with a long-pointed apex to obovate with a blunt apex. The leaf venation is distinctive, however, and once learned will allow for positive identification regardless of leaf shape.
Bark: Mottled gray and smooth.
Flowers: Dioecious, sessile, small and white, in the leaf axils, appearing in June.
Fruits: Sessile green drupes appear alone or in clusters along the stem and ripen to a bright red by September; they stay on the branches after the leaves are gone, producing an attractive sight; the rare form “Chrysocarpa” has yellow fruits.
Habitat: Swamps, streambanks, pond shores, wet thickets, sometimes on drier soils.
Range: Common throughout New England and the eastern United States.
Similar Species: Smooth Winterberry is less common and the fruits are borne on short but obvious stalks, not directly on the stem.
Comments: Plant breeders have developed many different cultivars of this attractive species.
