Look Down, Look Up

Oriental bittersweet hulls on the ground (photo by Kate St. John)

This month in Schenley Park I noticed lots of yellow hulls on the ground. Somewhat like pistachios, they were smaller and brighter with a ridge inside instead of on the edge.

Here’s what I saw when I looked down.

Oriental bittersweet hulls (photo by Kate St. John)

 

The hulls came from somewhere so I looked up to find the source:  Oriental bittersweet.

Oriential bittersweet fruits, Schenley Park, 7 Dec 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
Oriential bittersweet fruits, Schenley Park, 7 Dec 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

Each berry was encased in a three-part pod that burst open to reveal the fruit.  You can see three faint lines on the berries where the ridges made impressions.

And there above me, quietly eating the berries, was a big flock of robins knocking more yellow hulls to the ground.

Keep looking up.  🙂

 

(photos by Kate St. John)

2 thoughts on “Look Down, Look Up

  1. We were lucky enough to be in Barbados early this month. Speaking with a lovely, dignified, Englishwoman with a HUGE black eye. She had been sleeping in shade, under an almond tree. Yes,she was fortunate to have her eyes closed! One had fallen,and hit her close to the eye. She said she didn’t know how dangerous sleeping on the beach could be!
    Anne

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