The Nature of Science Photo

This week's assignment was to go out and photograph some unknown native species. Next, we were to give clues that, along with the photographs, would help to identify the species.  I figured, how difficult could this be?  It proved to be more difficult than I thought since there are so many unknowns to me.  I found that I had a hard time narrowing it down. 

As usual, I headed out to one of my favorite places to take photographs, Bray Conservation Area.  It was a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the mid 60's with a nice breeze and lots of sunshine.  I started at my favorite spot, the lake.  The red dragonflies were really active and I was able to get a couple of pretty good photographs of them.  I continued on my journey and headed down to the small stream that runs through the property.  As I strolled along the stream I spotted this little beauty with the bright red berries. 

 The plant was located on the edge of a wooded area but not too far from the little stream.  

It is approximately 2 meters tall.  (I couldn't get the ruler to stand up next to the plant for the photograph.)  It's leaves are straight across from each other on woody stems. The plant was not bushy and a lot of the stem did not have leaves.

There were clusters of berries where the leaves meet the stem.  The berries are approximately 5mm in diameter.

The leaves are oblong with smooth (entire) leaves that are about 4cm long.  The leaves have pinnate veins and are attached very closely to the stem.

Well, that is all the clues that I have.  Leave me a comment if you know what kind of plant this is.  As always, thank you for stopping by.

Oh, and here is a couple photographs of the dragonflies. They are such fascinating creatures!