# Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)

> A trailing evergreen an inch or two high, whose paired white flowers join to make one red berry that often lasts the winter.

Family: Rubiaceae (madder family). Also called twinberry, two-eyed berry, running box, running-fox, winter clover. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/partridgeberry/

![Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) trailing stems of small paired evergreen leaves with red berries on the forest floor](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/partridgeberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APartridgeberry_-_Mitchella_repens%2C_Zoar_State_Forest%2C_Aylett%2C_Virginia%2C_October_1%2C_2023_%2853461338017%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 8
- Grows wild in: The forest understory, stream banks, floodplain forests and rich moist slopes
- Native range: 33 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north to [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC))
- Sun: Shade, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: May to July
- Fruit: Berries, July to February
- First crop: —
- Mature spread: 1 ft
- Traits: Evergreen, Tolerates shade, Winter interest, Wildlife value, Showy flowers
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Partridgeberry is a trailing evergreen of the madder family whose slender stems creep over the forest floor and root where they touch the ground. Its small, glossy leaves sit in pairs and carry pale veins. Its fragrant white flowers open in pairs as well, and each pair fuses into a single scarlet berry, which is why it is also called twinberry. Iowa lists it as endangered. Grow it under trees, in a rock garden or around a small pond in shade, where a small space suits its slow, fine-textured carpet.

## Size, growth and what to expect

It grows slowly, a few inches a year in our growth estimator. It lies flat, only 1 to 3 inches high, and a plant's stems trail 6 to 12 inches, spreading a foot or more across. Rooting as they go, the stems can join into colonies several yards wide. The leaves are under an inch long, oval to heart-shaped.

Fragrant white flowers, often flushed with pink, open from May to July. Bumblebees carry their pollen, and the berries ripen from July into late summer, about a third of an inch across. They are edible but nearly tasteless, and they often last through the winter. Ruffed grouse, wild turkeys, quail, songbirds, foxes, raccoons, skunks and white-footed mice eat them.

It grows wild from Newfoundland and Ontario south to Florida and west to Minnesota, Missouri and eastern Texas. Its home is moist or dry woods of hardwoods or conifers, stream banks, rotting logs and sandy slopes.

## How to grow Partridgeberry

Partridgeberry grows in shade or part shade, and it takes morning sun. It needs a moist, well-drained soil rich in humus and on the acid side. Once settled it stands some drought, but it does best when the soil stays moist. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Plant them in spring or fall, in a hole wider than the root ball and no deeper, and keep the root ball whole. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch ring clear of the stems. It is very hard to raise from seed. Sow the cleaned seed outdoors in fall and mulch the bed over winter. For spring, hold the damp seed in the refrigerator for 150 to 180 days first. Many seeds wait until the second spring to sprout.

Water it every day for the first two weeks after planting, then every two to three days until week 12. After that, water weekly through the first two summers, and if it wilts, water it within two days, or it starts to die. Keep fallen leaves and garden debris from covering the mats.

Each plant bears flowers of one of two forms, long-styled or short-styled, and only pollen carried between the two forms sets berries, so plant three or more seedlings to have both. Both flowers of a pair must be pollinated to make one berry. No significant pests or diseases trouble it, and deer seldom damage it.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Mitchella repens](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/mitchella-repens/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Mitchella repens](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286688)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Mitchella repens](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MIRE)
- [USDA Forest Service, Celebrating Wildflowers, Plant of the Week: Partridge Berry, Stritch](https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/mitchella_repens.shtml)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Mitchella chapter, Brinkman, Erdmann and Barbour](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Mitchella.pdf)
- [Go Botany (Native Plant Trust): Mitchella repens, partridge-berry](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/mitchella/repens/)
- [Iowa Administrative Code 571, chapter 77: Endangered and Threatened Plant and Animal Species, effective June 17, 2026](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/571.77.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Mitchella repens](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.132448/Mitchella_repens)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Low native shrubs and groundcovers for sun, shade, sand and bog](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/low-native-shrubs-and-groundcovers/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [What a young tree looks like: first-year seedlings of oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut, maple and redbud, and the weed trees to pull](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-young-tree-looks-like/index.html.md)

## Related

- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Bottlebrush Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bottlebrush-buckeye/index.html.md), [Strawberry Bush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/strawberry-bush/index.html.md), [Florida Anise](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-anise/index.html.md) and [Florida Flame Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-flame-azalea/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Florida Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-maple/index.html.md), [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) and [Black Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-maple/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Black Elderberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-elderberry/index.html.md), [Schwerin's Indigobush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/schwerin-indigobush/index.html.md), [Spicebush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/spicebush/index.html.md) and [Darrow's Blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/darrow-blueberry/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Partridgeberry, add ?species=partridgeberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 3, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=partridgeberry&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Partridgeberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=partridgeberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Partridgeberry as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=partridgeberry (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Partridgeberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=partridgeberry (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Partridgeberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 3 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=partridgeberry:3
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Partridgeberry where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=partridgeberry&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Partridgeberry goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=partridgeberry&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Partridgeberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=partridgeberry