Yellow River, early November

 Along the Yellow River, I saw a cluster of red berries on a trailing vine. The berries of Nephroia carolina are bright, and one of its common names is Carolina coralbead, which describes it.

Other common names are Carolina snailseed and Carolina moonseed. The seeds inside the berries remind some folks of snail shells and others of halfmoons.

In Texas, people call it Margil’s vine, after Father Antonio Margil, the Franciscan missionary who helped set up the missions in East Texas in the early 1700s. He also was a founder of Mission San José in San Antonio.

The river was rising. Along the banks, beggarticks and camphorweed were still blooming.