I haven’t done a plant profile in a very long time, so here goes.

Euonymus americanus – American strawberry bush

I was deer scouting this weekend when I saw a few low growing shrubby bushes that I thought were “hearts-a-burstin” or strawberry bush.  Took a few pictures, checked my field guide this morning, and sure enough.

You can see the tri-cusped pod that will eventually open to expose the true beauty of the plant.

Photo courtesy of USDA

So a little about the plant:

*White-tailed deer love them.  Rarely will you see a completely intact strawberry bush.  At the very least, a few of the branches will be clipped back.  At the very worst, all that is left will be the main stem.  More often that not, a singular stem is what I have encountered in the woods.

In fact, strawberry bush is a great indicator species because when deer are overpopulated, suitable habitats become devoid of the little plant.

*Don’t plan on eating strawberry bush plant parts without first carefully considering what you are getting yourself into.  The seeds are used for a powerful natural laxative.  Tea from the roots is used to treat a cramped stomach, painful urination, and even vomiting blood.  The bark is a diuretic and tonic used to treat malaria in past days.  Bark, ground into a fine powder, was believed to eliminate scalp dandruff.  Crazy plant!

*The plant is deciduous (loses its leaves every year) and grows best in moist woodlands, swamps, and shaded stream edges.  Native to most of the eastern United States, the strawberry bush is one of the most peculiar looking of plants when the red seeds burst forth in late September through mid-October.

Yesterday, I saw some really pretty Red Buckeye trees that were flowering out down at the study site. Red buckeye flowers are prime hummingbird nectar sources, though otherwise the plant has little wildlife value.  The small fruits that are produced are poisonous to humans.

Mom and dad were in from North Carolina to visit for the first time in Alabama, so we headed down to walk the woods and see if we couldn’t scour up any antlers.  Fortunately, we found several but most all of them were old and chewed up.

Dad did manage to find this set down in a marshy creek bottom, but they were a couple years old at least.  The other antler is in the position of a capital “L” directly above the other antler.

I thought the other interesting thing about the day was that we saw 4 groups of turkeys, but each group consisted of only 1 turkey.  All lone hens, so if that helps you plan how to go after an Alabama turkey in the morning…