strawberry bush
Euonymus americanus
  • FAMILY: CELASTRACEAE
  • ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: wahoo
  • LEAVES: opposite, simple, entire; thick, lanceolate to ovate; bright green, pale to red in fall; 1 to 4 inches long; petiole very short
  • FLOWER: axillary, resting on leaf blade, tiny; 1 to 3 in a cyme; May to June
  • FRUIT: reddish, warty (muricate), capsule; 4-5 reddish-orange, pulpy seeds; September to October; eventually turns black
  • TWIGS: olive green; four-sided
  • BARK:
  • FORM: small upright shrub, to 2 meters
  • HABITAT: woods, ravines, streamsides
  • WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
  • RANGE: eastern US
  • USES: wildlife - browse for deer and rabbits, greatly preferred by deer (plant will disappear on over-stocked range); turkey eat the seeds; ornamental
  • Best Recognition Features:
    1. opposite, bright green leaves with short petiole
    2. 4-sided olive green twigs
    3. fruit is a warty capsule, splits when mature, exposing red seeds