Everything about Snowberry totally explained
Symphoricarpos is a small genus of about 15 species of
deciduous shrubs in the family
Caprifoliaceae. All but one are natives of
North America and
Central America; the one remaining is from western
China. Its common names in English are
Snowberry and
Waxberry. It is a member of the
Honeysuckle Family, the
Caprifoliaceae.
The
leaves are 1.5–5 cm long, rounded, entire or with one or two lobes at the base. The
flowers are small, greenish-white to pink, in small clusters of 5–15 together in most species, solitary or in pairs in some (for example
S. microphyllus). The
fruit are conspicuous, 1–2 cm in diameter, soft, varying from white (for example
S. albus) to pink (
S. microphyllus) to red (
S. orbiculatus) and in one species (
S. sinensis), blackish purple.
Common Snowberry (
Symphoricarpos albus) is an important winter food source for
quail,
pheasant and
grouse, but is considered poisonous to humans. The berries contain the
isoquinoline alkaloid chelidonine, as well as other alkaloids. Ingesting the berries causes mild symptoms of vomiting, dizziness, and slight
sedation in children.
Selected species:
Cultivation and uses
Common Snowberry is a popular
ornamental shrub in
gardens, grown for its decorative white fruit. There are two varieties,
S. albus var.
albus, native to eastern North America, and
S. albus var.
laevigatus native to the Pacific coast. The latter is a larger shrub, up to 2 m tall, and with slightly larger fruit; it's treated as a distinct species
S. rivularis by some
botanists.
References and external links
Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System
Notes on poisoning: thin-leaved snowberry
Symphoricarpos orbiculatus images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
Image:Symphoricarpos albus.jpg|Symphoricarpos albus flowers
Image:Coralberry.jpg|Symphoricarpos orbiculatus fruits, mid-October
Image:Lonicera symphoricarpos Ypey55.jpg| Symphoricarpos vulgaris . Drawn by Eersde Deel, 1813.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Snowberry'.
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