One leaf emerges during autumn to show off over winter and into early spring. Larger than the Cranefly leaf, this one can reach six to seven inches. It is a dark dull green with light veins giving it a pleated and pinstriped effect. There are three great native groundcovers that belong beneath shrubs and small trees in the winter garden. Both put on a twelve-month display, coordinate well with other plants and exist peacefully with their neighbors.
Individual leaves are less than an inch long, rounded in shape with the midrib a whitish-green.
It will have fuzzy white flowers in pairs during June and July, followed by red berries into fall and early winter. It covers bare earth left when Jack in the Pulpit or Trillium go dormant in summer. A stiff little stem will carry lustrous leathery leaves, matte green with prominent lighter veins. During winter, the leaves take on bronze-red tones to form a background for the red berries that stay most of winter. I place this where I can pick a leaf or berry to chew on as I pass.