winterberry

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an eastern North American deciduous holly (Ilex verticillata) bearing persistent bright red berries

   Winterberry brightened the frozen marsh with clusters of red fruit.

2. 2
   noun

   the red fruit of this shrub

   A thrush swallowed a winterberry from the bare branch.

From winter + berry, named for the conspicuous berries that persist on bare branches into winter. The shrub is also called black alder, although it is a holly rather than a true alder. Thoreau's poetic alder-berry refers contextually to this red fruit.

Topics