Mitchella repens, commonly known as partridge berry, is a semi-woody evergreen vine that creeps along the ground and rambles over rotted logs. The deep green, oval to heart-shaped leaves run in pairs along the stem. In spring and into early summer pairs of white, tube-shaped fragrant flowers with four petals emerge from leaf axils and at the ends of new shoots. The flowers give way to small bright red berries that often persist through the winter. The berries have long been thought to be a favorite of partridges, giving rise to the common name. However, the berries serve as a food source for numerous birds and small mammals.
Partridge berry is native to deciduous and mixed forests, stream banks, and hummocks in bottom lands from central Florida north to Maine and west to east Texas and Minnesota. With the potential to form large, dense mats, partridge berry is great as a ground cover in part shade to full shade at the base of trees or acid loving shrubs such as azalea.
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