Running Strawberry Bush

Running Strawberry Bush

Euonymus obovatus

Running Strawberry Bush is an uncommon plant in Indiana.  It's found in higher quality woodlands in thinly wooded slopes and bluffs.  It'll be about a foot or two tall and three feet long.

The flowers are attractive little stars with five round petals.  The main stem of the flowerhead emerges from the base of the leaf and then the flowers pose on top of the leaf.

As near as I can tell, this plant is nothing at all like a strawberry plant.  Not sure how it got its name.  The genus, Euonymus, is the same as the Burningbush, and it is in the Bittersweet family - Celastraceae.

 

Whole plant