General: Deciduous shrub, loosely branched, 0.5-2 m tall; stems erect to spreading, finely short-hairy and bristly with slender, sharp prickles and usually larger, 6-12 mm long, nodal spines; bark reddish-brown.
Leaves: Alternate, mostly heart-shaped, 2-7 cm wide, 5-lobed more than half their length, glabrous or sparsely short-hairy along the veins, rarely glandular, coarsely toothed; stalks about equal to or slightly longer than the blades, glabrous.
Flowers: Inflorescence of 5-15 flowers in a drooping raceme from shorter to longer than the leaves; flower stalks 3-7 mm long, jointed just below the flowers; petals pinkish, 1.5-2 mm long, broadly spoon-shaped; hypanthium saucer-shaped, about 1 mm long; calyces pale yellowish-green to dull reddish-brown, stalked, glandular-hairy, the tips reddish to purplish; styles free to the base, about equaling the stamens.
Fruits: Berries, nearly round, dark purple, 4-8 mm long, stalked, glandular-hairy.
Moist streambanks, open woodlands, forest margins and rock outcrops in the montane to alpine zones; common throughout BC except extreme NE BC; N to AK, YT and SW NT, E to NF and S to PA, MI, SD, CO, UT and CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-tolerant/intolerant, submontane to subalpine, Asian and transcontinental North American deciduous shrub. Occurs on fresh to moist, nitrogen-rich soils within boreal, temperate, and cool mesothermal climates; its occurrence increases with increasing continentality. Common in semi-open forests on water-receiving sites, less often on waterÂshedding sites. Usually associated with Acer glabrum, Oplopanax horridus, Rubus parvifIorus, Smilacina stellata, and Valeriana sitchensis. A nitrophytic species characteristic of Moder and Mull humus forms.
