ˈchecker-berry
[app. another spelling of chequer n.3, transferred to another plant, as frequent with names of animals and plants.]
The fruit of Gaultheria procumbens, a small trailing plant of North America, with oval evergreen leaves and drooping white flowers; hence the plant itself; the Winter-green.
| 1823 F. Cooper Pioneer ix, A bunch of checker-berries. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xvii. 166 Chewing some checkerberry-leaves. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. i. (1885) 10 The flora is rich in checkerberries. |
¶ The Partridge-berry, Mitchella repens (Webster).
(Partridge-berry is also a name of Gaultheria: hence the confusion.)