While reading Fiona's beautiful blog http://raindropsanddaisys.blogspot.com/ I spotted a plant with an orange berry that I have been trying to name for a while. I did a search on Google and found a perfect Halloween horror story.
Oriental Bittersweet, often used to decorate at Halloween is a true horror story. It was originally introduced into the USA in 1860 as a more robust replacement for the native American Bittersweet.
Often planted under a tree, it engulfs the poor thing by wrapping so tightly around, that it strangles them. At the same time, the vine's massive crown of leaves shades its host and robs the plant of light. If the tree isn't dead from lack of light and being closed off from food and water, the vine grows so huge its weight will eventually topple a smaller tree. It's berries are much brighter red making it more attractive to birds so they will choose them over the American Bittersweet and then spread the plant when they drop the seed usually while sitting on a tree branch therefore dooming another tree to certain death. Unfortunately, because of it's beauty, it is still being planted.
Here's an image of it from CarolsCamera on Zazzle. She got a good close up of it.
Once I recognized it I was surprised to remember that even I thought it was pretty and had used it in a painting from last year
The pumpkin image above is from www.stylehive.com
