Some winterberry shrubs here still contain red galaxies of fruit within the gray outer space of our roadsides, as you see from these images taken yesterday. These plants are unlike other fruiting trees and shrubs that ripen when it’s warm and get eaten then. Scientists think that it’s all part of a survival plan.
Winterberry shrubs (Ilex verticillata), as do other American hollies, produce fruits that ripen late, are not as nutritious as many other fruits, and contain bad-tasting compounds that don’t dissipate until the winter months. These plants compete with many plants that apparently are designed to produce fruit for migrating birds; those feathered summer residents may or may not disperse those earlier fruit seeds in the area where they originated.
The theory is that, by delaying fruit ripening until many birds are gone and the remaining resident birds are less particular about what they eat, winterberry is avoiding competition and maximizing its chances to have its seeds dispersed nearby. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 4, 2024.)