Can you help to identify a plant for us? We found it at the bottom of the hill
about 150 feet from the Spring River. It was about fifteen feet tall with smooth
bark. The leaves are about three inches long and relatively narrow. The fruits
are capsules with orange or red berries popping out. We found it in a heavily
wooded area. What do you think it is?
By the size of it, I would say it is a Wahoo, Euonymus atropurpureus. These, along with the strawberry euonymus, Euonymus americanus, are fairly non-descript plants during the growing season, but have interesting fruit in the fall, which persists for quite awhile. They do well in the shade and are good native plants. The strawberry bush is a smaller plant, usually not growing larger than six feet. The wahoo can grow to be 20 feet or more.