The Colorful Coralberry

Amid the brown-hued grasses and forbs of late November, a swath of red can be seen, subtle enough to overlook at a glance but defined nonetheless. I wander off the paved trail to investigate, taking advantage of the opportunity to pay closer attention to the woody plants that have so much difficulty capturing my attention throughout the rest of the year.

The current of color turns out to be abundant pinkish-red berries, clinging closely to slender woody stems with dry remnants of opposite leaves interspersed. It's a short shrub, appropriately named Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus), native to the eastern United States. If I had happened upon this cluster of plants earlier in the summer, it likely wouldn't have drawn attention beyond its orderly arrangement of leaves; the flowers that give way to the colorful berries are small and nondescript, with clusters tucked below the leaves where they join the stems.

Coralberry is a hardy and fast-growing shrub; the berries are eaten by robins and other birds, and another common name--Buckbrush--reflects its appeal to deer. It is another small note in the symphony of species that surround us on the Greenway, so easy to overlook but so rewarding to know.