Wild Winterberry fruits here seem to be more bountiful this year than in decades. Some of our shrubbed roadsides look as if they are in the process of being blasted by a shotgun loaded with large red pellets.
Many of the Winterberry leaves have now fallen and, on rainy days such as yesterday, their beaming berries in the gray gloom can be jaw-dropping:
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is native to Maine and grows wild here in acidic soils, especially those that are damp or wet, such as roadside embankments and marsh edges. The plant’s berries are among the last to be eaten by birds in the winter, apparently because they are less nutritious than the other foods that are consumed first.
However, the winterberry fruits are reported to be the ultimate survival foods for late-wintering American robins, bluebirds, brown thrashers, cardinals, catbirds, cedar waxwings, grosbeaks, and thrushes, among other birds. Mice and raccoons also reportedly have been seen gobbling the berries in winter.
For humans, it’s another story: The uncooked berries may be poisonous to some of us and our pets. However, with thorough cooking, winterberry fruit reportedly can make a good jelly or jam – but check the safety for yourself before you try it. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 26, 2022.) See also the image in the first Comment space.