Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus (L.) S.F. Blake (Fernald) S.F. Blake
common snowberry
Caprifoliaceae (Valerian family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

© lauraine baillie     (Photo ID #19277)


Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus
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Species Information

General:
Deciduous, erect, much-branched shrub, often densely colonial from rhizomes, 0.5-3 m tall; older stems dark greyish-brown with shredding bark; branchlets glabrous; twigs thin, wiry.
Leaves:
Opposite, on stalks 2-4 mm long, elliptic to oval, 1.5-5 cm long and 1-3.5 cm wide, obtuse at base and tip, margins entire or occasionally with a few wavy teeth; leaves often larger and irregularly lobed on sterile shoots; glabrous above, glabrous or spreading-hairy beneath.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of short, dense clusters (racemes) of few, short-stalked to nearly stalked flowers, at ends of twigs and often also in upper leaf axils; corollas widely bell-shaped, 5-7 mm long, hairy within; petals pink to whitish, fused at bases into tubes that flare at top to 5 lobes, which are as long to half as long as the tubes; styles 2-3 mm long, glabrous; stamens shorter than corolla lobes, the anthers 1-1.5 mm long, about as long as the filaments.
Fruits:
Berrylike drupes, densely clustered, waxy white, ellipsoid or nearly globose, 5-15 mm long; nutlets 2, each enclosing a seed; some fruits persist through the winter.
Notes:
Two varieties occur in BC:

1. Plants 0.5-1 m tall; fruits usually less than 1 cm long; infrequent in E BC................... var. albus

1. Plants 1-3 m tall; fruits 1-1.5 cm long; our common phase......................... var. laevigatus (Fern.) Blake

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat and Range

Mesic to dry meadows, disturbed areas, grasslands, shrublands, and forests in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; extremely common in S BC, common in C BC, infrequent northward; N to NT, E to PQ, and S to NE, VA, CO and CA.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Symphoricarpos albus subsp. laevigatus (Fernald) Hultén
Symphoricarpos rivularis Suksd.