Bittersweet memories
If you think I am going to talk about sanguine memories, you are mistaken. No. I mean the orange fruited bittersweet vine, literally.
Growing up in southeastern Wisconsin in the forested area, there were pockets of bittersweet vines. Although I searched through the woods available to me, I only found a plant or two at a time. However, true to the local belief at the time, I kept silent about the locations, hoping the bittersweet would become a large clump of bittersweet vines. They never did. Why be silent? Everyone wanted the vines to decorate their homes with or…to sell at the Labor day fair or the farmer markets. Selling the vines was what I wanted to do, but never had enough. And, of course, mums the word meant I never did find out about the location of large clumps of bittersweet vines.
Newly, searching in google resulted in the confirmation that most everything about the bittersweet – fruit, leaves, and roots- are poisonous with some people using the roots for cancer. Really now. I would imagine 4-herb tea with yew tips would work much better against cancer than bittersweet root, as they are not poisonous. So, stick with enjoying the two-tone orange colors of the bittersweet as a long lasting dry-vine decoration in your home. You can hang it over picture frames or intertwine it in macrame hanging baskets where it is very pleasing to the eye.
For a wonderful picture of the Bittersweet fruit click on Minnesota Knecht’s Nurseries and Landscaping in our Blogroll section.
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