Spicebush Berries

If you look hard at this pic, or better yet, click it to blow it up, you'll see a whole lot of red berries.   Those are the berries of the spicebush - Lindera benzoin.    We have loads of these.

They loved the early monsoons we had around here and flowered like crazy and now are fruiting like crazy.

The berries - more properly called 'drupes' - are small and brilliant.   The birds, possums and racoons love them.

Which is why we have them all over the place here.  

At any rate, they are very very pretty even on the dusty bushes by the road. 

I just found out that these are edible.   They taste very strongly of allspice.  Check out this site and this site for more information.

More Signs of Spring

The canes of our wild berries are turning very red these days.   These are black raspberry canes.   The bottoms of the canes are sort of a white-ish blue-ish.    It's not uncommon to find them bent over and rooted at the tips.   They're smaller and bend more than the blackberries.  

These are spicebush buds.    We have these all over the place.    The leaves smell divine.

These are the early catkins of hickory trees.    Probably pignut hickory.