Family: Caprifoliaceae

Common name: Common snowberry

E-flora BC: https://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Symphoricarpos%20albus

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphoricarpos_albus

Common snowberry belongs to the family Caprifoliaceae, like its family members the honeysuckles, common snowberry is characterized by smooth round stems, oppositely arranged leaves, and clustered flowers and fruit .

Common snowberry is a delicate plant with thin stems, but it can form large, tangled thickets in open woods. The plant can spread vegetatively via rhizomes (underground stems). This photo was taken at Pipers Lagoon park. The tree trunks in the background are Douglas-firs. Photo credit: Lynda Stevens

If we’re hasty, we might mistake snowberry for red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) – both have delicate foliage and thin stems. But look at the leaf arrangement, and inspect the stem closely: snowberry has opposite leaf arrangement and smooth, round stems; red huckleberry has alternate leaf arrangement and green, sharp-ridged stems.

Snowberry leaves are elliptic to oval in shape (but see below too!), they are arranged oppositely along the stem. The stem itself is smooth and round. Photo credit: Lynda Stevens
Foliage of different common snowberry specimens. Note that some leaves are distinctly lobed – this is a juvenile trait (see the Hedera helix page for a discussion on juvenile-adult transition in plants). Flower-bearing shoots typically have smooth-edged leaves. Photo credit: rwh and rachelvulk via iNaturalist

The flower and fruit arrangement of snowberry is similar to its close relatives, the honeysuckles (Lonicera sp.), they’re clustered at the ends of stems. The flowers of snowberry are important for native bees and hummingbirds, as they provide both nectar and pollen. The berries are eaten by e.g. towhees and robins.

Flowers of common snowberry range in colour from white to pink. They are bell-shaped with a lobed edge. Note how the flowers are clustered together at the end of a twig. Photo credit: Lynda Stevens
Photo credit: Donna Pomeroy via iNaturalist

The scientific name Symphoricarpos albus is descriptive: sym = (Greek) together, phore = (Greek) bearer, carpos =(Greek) fruit, albus = (Latin) white, i.e. “white fruits borne together”. The berries are not used as a food source for humans, they are extremely bitter and probably a bit poisonous.

Fruits of common snowberry clustered at the end of a stem.
Photo credit: Ian Cruickshank via iNaturalist

The fruits of snowberry persist on the plant long into winter and brighten up the landscape. In late fall, after leaf-drop, a large thicket of fruit-bearing snowberry bushes look like a drift of snow. It’s a beautiful plant.

The berries of common snowberry often persist on the plant after the leaves have dropped in late fall. Compare the arrangement of the fruit to that of honeysuckle. Photo credit: haida_gwaii via iNaturalist