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Partridge berry

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par⋅tridge⋅ber⋅ry

[pahr-trij-ber-ee]
–noun, plural -ries.
a North American trailing plant, Mitchella repens, of the madder family, having roundish evergreen leaves, fragrant white flowers, and scarlet berries.

Origin:
1705–15; partridge + berry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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par·tridge·ber·ry   (pär'trĭj-běr'ē)   
n.  A creeping evergreen perennial plant (Mitchella repens) of eastern North America, having small white flowers and scarlet berries. Also called twinberry.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

partridgeberry

(Mitchella repens), North American plant of the madder family (Rubiaceae), growing in dry woods from southwestern Newfoundland to Minnesota and southward to Florida and Texas. It is evergreen, with nearly round, 18-millimetre (0.7-inch) leaves, often variegated with white lines; a slender, often whitish, trailing stem; and white flowers, often borne in pairs, which are replaced by scarlet, edible but almost tasteless berrylike drupes. The flowers occur in long-styled and short-styled forms, as in the primrose. The plant, also called checkerberry, squawberry, teaberry, running box, two-eyed berry, squaw vine, and twinflower, is a good wild-garden plant for shady places. It is popular in winter terrariums because of its diminutive size and attractive colour contrast of berries and leaves.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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