Berries with a difference

CLEVER thing, nature. Take berries, which are ultimately just a highly efficient method of seed dispersal. The bird eats the berry then, as it flies around, its juices digest the fleshy part and start to break down the skin of the seed inside. The bird then excretes the seed, which germinates in its new location and – tadah! – a new plant grows in a new place.

Many berries mature to bright colours, catching the birds’ attention while attracting other creatures that also play a part in seed distribution. Red has the advantage of showing up well whatever the weather; hence it’s the colour we see on most berried shrubs in the wild (rose hips and hawthorn), as well as in gardens – cotoneaster and pyracantha.

But many plants produce berries in other colours: orange, yellow, white, pink,