Hearts a Bursting with Love

This time a year, when the landscape is dominated with shades of brown, my eye is drawn to anything with a bit of color.


The Eastern Wahoo, Euonymus atropurpureus, can be found in woods with moist soils. Another name for it is Hearts a Bursting with Love. The pink seed capsule bursts open in the fall to reveal a seed enclosed in a orange fleshy covering called an aril. I think it kinda looks like a cinnamon redhot.

The seed capsules curl back forming a heart-like shape with the aril looking like a drop of blood. Such a cool sight to discover, to stumble upon a shrub completely covered with all these miniature hearts.