PlantFiles: Partridgeberry, Twinberry, Squaw Vine, Deerberry
Mitchella repens

A nice evergreen plant that is quite common in rich woods in the eastern US, commonly growing on stumps and at the base of trees among various mosses. The flowers are paired and their ovaries fuse to produce a single berry (hence one can observe two spots on each fruit corresponding to the style of each flower. The flowers are also white-hairy on the inside, which is an unusual character. The berries are extremely long-lasting and rather wrinkled specimens can be found in early spring, months after they were produced.

In older terrarium books, this plant is frequently recommended for terrarium culture. I have tried it myself: I harvested some in the fall (October or so) when it was probably dormant. I put it in an open-top terrarium with the cushion of mosses it was growing in and watered every couple weeks. It put out new growth after a few weeks. The arrangement is only a couple months old, so we shall see how it turns out.

Not only did I "inherit" a patch of this when I bought this house, but recently I saw many patches growing while on a hike. I'm glad to see this plant is surviving in this area, and thriving in its "natural habitat" too.

I was excited to find a large patch of this delicate plant growing in the woods, even more excited to have ID'd it!
I found multiple buds, blooms and even a berry in April.

I find it extensively in my woods here in New Hampshire. I like it as a ground cover - I will have to move some into my garden soon.

The berries are edible, if a bit bland. I find the very fuzzy pink flowers utterly charming - well worth stretching out on your belly for a closer look!

I have cultivated several patches of Partridge Berry in my "natural" garden. I prefer indigenous plants and this is readily available in the Gulf Coastal Plains Area of Arkansas. It likes partial - full shade and sandy, but fertile soil. Grows slowly and requires watering for first season to start, but the blooms and berries are quite rewarding.

I'm in British Columbia Canada and have a partridge berry bush in my garden. It is propagated by division and it transplants easily, and may also be grown from stratified seed or stem cuttings. This berry bush grows in abundance in Newfoundland Canada in pine forested areas. Also makes a lovely jam when made with apples.

This beautiful little plant is growing all over on my six acres in Northcentral Florida, zone 8b, in the shade of huge old live oak trees. It is by far my most attractive native plant, and I am desperately trying to get rid of the native poison ivy, trumpet creeper and Virginia creeper, while encouraging this little spreading vine. It looks like a dark green carpet in the middle of my driveways and along my paths--anywhere in the shade that I have mowed down the other undergrowth. The plant is too prostrate to be affected by mowing.

It has delicate lavender tinged, white flowers in early Summer and now in early Fall I see the occasional red berry. The small flowers always grow in pairs and their ovaries unite to produce only one berry, which has two "dimples," one from each flower.

The American indigenous people used this plant extensively as medicine, especially for women in childbirth, hence the name "Squaw Vine." A Google search will bring up several purveyors of Homeopathic medicine still selling some version of this plant--tinctures, etc.

The plant is considered part of the climax undergrowth vegetation in several forest communities in the Eastern USA. It lives off of rain water here--we get over 60 inches of rain--and with our very wet, just-past Summer, I have noticed it increasing its area on my property, which is very welcome to me, as I think it is just a really very attractive little plant, especially in mass. It will even take some traffic, as it is growing quite happily under my clothes lines.