Erect much branched deciduous shrubs. Twigs slender, round, pubescent; pith small, round, brownish, continuous or excavated. Buds small, solitary or multiple, ovoid-oblong, sessile. Leaf-scars opposite, half-round, small and torn, partly connected by ridges; bundle-trace 1, indistinct; stipule-scars none. Fruit a berry persistent into winter.

a.

Pith excavated; fruit white

1.

S. albus

a.

Pith continuous; fruit red

2.

S. orbiculatus

1. S. albus (L.) Blake. Snowberry. (S. racemosus Michx.) Erect shrub 1-1. 5 m. high; twigs glabrate; buds 2 mm. long; fruit globose, white, 5-10 mm. in diameter when fresh, withering but persisting into winter. Rocky limestone slopes, Quebec to British Columbia, south to Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Colorado (Fig. 299 ).

2. S. orbiculatus Moench. Coralberry. Shrub to 2 m. high, with slender upright pubescent branches; fruit subglobose, red, 4-6 mm. across when fresh, withering but persisting into winter. Thickets, Florida to Texas and Mexico, north to Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Colorado; spread from cultivation northeastwards (Fig. 300 ).

Fig. 299. Symphoricarpos albus

Fig. 299. Symphoricarpos albus.

Fig. 300. Symphoricarpos orbicularus

Fig. 300. Symphoricarpos orbicularus.