American Strawberry Bush – Euonymous americanus

American Strawberry Bush

Hearts A Bursting in a native bush of Eastern North America. It is a small little bush that occurs in shady understories along shaded streams, river banks, woods edge and moist open woods. This bush is not well known in cultivation, but its interesting berries should land it a place in many eastern gardens! Taking greenwood cuttings in the summer or division of root clumps in winter are the easiest ways to transplant one to your yard or garden!

 

Humans, sheep and cattle will succumb to the glycosides (evobioside, evomonoside, & evonoside) found in the fruit. The symptomology of poisoning include diarrhea, and afflictions of the heart that may lead to cardiac arrest. Needless to say the fruit is not food for humans!

 

Even with the toxicity a decoction made from the root is used in cases of uterine prolapse, vomiting of blood, painful menstruation, and stomach aches. The bark is used in tea for the treatment of malaria, liver complaints, and constipation. Since it was used to stimulate menstruation, it should not be utilized by pregnant women since miscarriage can be expected!

 

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American Bittersweet – Celastrus scandens

Winter American Bittersweet

The winter bittersweet shows as a tangle of vines with bright orange-red berries with what appears to be a cap of yellow. The fruit sits on the vine through much of the winter proving to be a survival food in late winter for songbirds, ruffed grouse, pheasants, bobwhite, and squirrels. The white tailed deer, and cotton tailed rabbits also find the foliage and stems very tasty.

King’s American Dispensatory reveals how Celastrus scandens came to be thought of as bitter-sweet, remarking that “The bark has a bitter, afterward sweetish, rather nauseous taste.” This taste may reveal the fact that all parts of the plant is poisonous, but especially the seeds. It was known to “Clean you out at both ends.’… describes most of the symptoms of poisoning, which are vomiting, diarrhea and eventual loss of consciousness.

Even with the toxicity the inner bark was at one time used as starvation food. In medicinal use the Native American tribes used the bark externally in an ointment for the treatment of burns, scrapes, and skin eruptions. The root is diaphoretic, diuretic, and emetic. Although rarely used in modern times it was used for the treatment of chronic liver and skin conditions, rheumatism, leucorrhea, dysentery and suppressed menses.

American Strawberry Bush – Euonymus americanus

Strawberry bush is also known as hearts-a-burstin’ and grows to 4 – 6 ft in height. The spring flowers are hardly noticeable, but the fruit is where its name is derived, and very noticeable. It is a warty red capsule, approx 1 inch across that resembles a strawberry. It bursts open revealing 4 or 5 orange red seeds.

Strawberry bush caught the eye of early botanists who visited the New World, so

much so that in 1663 it was among the first American plants exported back to Europe for horticultural use. Native Americans used the roots of Strawberry bush to make a tea for stomach and urinary problems and uterine prolapse.

This plant is not for human ingestion as the fruit is poisonous. But for wildlife it is a well-loved fruit. The fruits apparently have no effect on Wild Turkeys, Wood Thrushes, Eastern Bluebirds, Yellow- rumped Warblers, and Northern Mockingbirds, which are among the few birds that consume the berries and disseminate the seeds. Although native deer browse Strawberry bush with impunity, the leaves and twigs are considered to be deadly poisonous to domestic sheep and cattle.

Strawberry Bush