Round-leaved snowberry

Description

Symphoricarpos rotundifolius is a North American subshrub in the honeysuckle family, also known by the common name round-leaved snowberry. Symphoricarpos rotundifolius is native to the western United States and northwestern Mexico. It has been found in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, eastern Oregon, the Oklahoma Panhandle, far western Texas, and northern Baja California. Symphoricarpos rotundifolius is an erect, spreading, or trailing subshrub, about 2 to 4 feet (0.61 to 1.22 m) tall, with many stiff branches. Older woody parts are covered in shreddy bark and smaller, newer twigs are coated in fuzzy hairs. The species epithet, rotundifolia ("round leaved") is slightly misleading, since the 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 inch (0.6 to 1.9 cm) leaves are oval to elliptic, not perfectly circular. Leaves are green above, and pale green with many veins below. The inflorescence is a raceme emerging from the leaf axils with one or two pendant flowers having narrowly bell-shaped, pink to white corollas up to 1 cm (0.4 inch) with a lobed mouth. The fruit is a white berry-like drupe about a centimeter (0.4 inch) wide, containing two seeds. The genus name means "fruits together", referring to flowers and fruits usually occurring in pairs. It flowers from June to August. Symphoricarpos, commonly known as the snowberry, waxberry, or ghostberry, is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. With the exception of the Chinese coralberry, S. sinensis, which is indigenous to western China, all species are native to North and Central America. The name of the genus is derived from the Ancient Greek words sumphoreîn, meaning "to bear together", and karpós, meaning "fruit". It refers to the closely packed clusters of berries the species produces. Snowberry is a resilient plant able to withstand a variety of conditions. Snowberry plants are most commonly found in forests, dry or moist openings, rocky hillsides or near riverbanks and streams. They have been known to grow in a variety of soil types such as light sandy soil, medium loamy soil and heavier clay soil. Snowberry plants are also able to grow in a wide range of acidic and basic pHs and sunlight conditions.