Bittersweet

Bitter Sweet concluded she

Would live with some good, friendly tree;

Went to visit Madame Oak,

Stayed all winter, for a joke.

       Assemble a mini doll sized book: Right, is the Bittersweet's illustration and verse. Visitors can collect all the flower illustrations and verse from "Flower Children" to print and construct a small book of verse for their dolls. Simply drag each png. into a Word Document, print, cut out all of the images the same size and staple the pages together at the left edge. Squeeze out some white school glue along the stapled edge of the pages and attach a cardboard cover.

The scientific name for Oriental Bittersweet is Celastrus orbiculatus. Learn more about this woody vine here. Note: The less attractive but indigenous Missouri bittersweet is listed here. (It's scientific name is Celastrus scandens.)

Back to the Flower Children Index.   

Bittersweet 

       "Then there is bittersweet, another wild vine that we gather in the fall. It covers fences and bushes as the clematis does, but instead of turning into fringe balls its small, creamy white flowers become bunches of berries.
       The berries are yellow at first; when ripe they split open and curl back to show the brilliant red seeds inside that look like coral beads.
       Gather the bittersweet while the berries are yellow, strip off the green leaves, and hang the vine up dry or put it in a large vase without water. Then the berries will open and last all winter." The Beard Sisters