Rivinia humilis

Rougeplant is a small, soft-stemmed perennial of the pokeweed family, native to Florida, Texas, and the warm Americas, grown for the long show of tiny flowers and the shining strings of bright red berries that follow. Where common pokeweed is coarse and towering, rougeplant is refined and knee-high or less, with small leaves and delicate, arching sprays that carry flowers and ripe fruit at the same time for months on end.

The plant carries a run of vivid common names, rougeplant, pigeonberry, bloodberry, and coralito among them, all pointing at the same feature: the intensely colored juice of the berries. Southwestern peoples used that juice as a red dye and ink, and the name rougeplant recalls an old use as a cosmetic stain. Woodlanders' plants trace to a specific wild source, San Luis Province in Argentina, at the far southern end of the species' broad American range.

Birds find the red berries irresistible and spread the seed freely, so rougeplant self-sows into a gentle colony where the plant is happy. Gardeners should know the whole plant is toxic to people, and eating the berries can bring on stomach upset, so this is a plant to enjoy for color and for the birds rather than for the table, and one to site away from where small children graze. Beyond the dye, the plant has a place in traditional Ayurvedic medicine as well.

Grow rougeplant in fertile, semi-shaded soil at a woodland edge, in a shaded border, or in a container, where the arching sprays of red berries can be seen at close range and the self-sown seedlings are welcome. Evergreen and ever-fruiting in frost-free gardens, the plant dies back and returns from the root farther north, so treat the plant as a tender perennial at the cold edge of the range. A charming, long-season filler for shade, and a magnet for berry-loving birds.