Home Flora of Missouri
Home
Name Search
Families
Volumes
Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Moench Search in The Plant ListSearch in IPNISearch in Australian Plant Name IndexSearch in NYBG Virtual HerbariumSearch in Muséum national d'Histoire naturelleSearch in Type Specimen Register of the U.S. National HerbariumSearch in Virtual Herbaria AustriaSearch in JSTOR Plant ScienceSearch in SEINetSearch in African Plants Database at Geneva Botanical GardenAfrican Plants, Senckenberg Photo GallerySearch in Flora do Brasil 2020Search in Reflora - Virtual HerbariumSearch in Living Collections Decrease font Increase font Restore font
 

Published In: Methodus Plantas Horti Botanici et Agri Marburgensis, a staminum situ describendi 503. 1794. (Methodus) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

Export To PDF Export To Word

3. Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Moench (coralberry, buckbrush, Indian currant)

Map 1433, Pl. 336 c, d

Plants shrubs 0.5–1.2(–2.0) m tall. Bark gray to grayish brown, thin, tending to become shredded or occasionally peeling in thin plates. Petioles 2–3(–5) mm long. Leaf blades 1.0–4.5 cm long, 8–28 mm wide, elliptic to ovate or oblong, broadly rounded or broadly angled at the base, rounded or angled to a bluntly or less commonly sharply pointed tip, the upper surface bright green to dark green, the undersurface pale green, short-hairy, usually not glaucous. Flowers mostly sessile, appearing in clusters or short spikes. Corollas 3–4 mm long, lobed about 1/3 of the way to the base, greenish white and usually purplish-tinged. Stamens with the anthers 0.9–1.2 mm long, not or only slightly exserted from the corolla. Styles hairy. Fruits 3–4 mm in diameter, pink to reddish purple or purple, rarely white. Nutlets 2.5–3.2 mm long, elliptic to oblong-elliptic in outline, more or less rounded at each end. 2n=18. July–August.

Common throughout the state (eastern U.S. west to South Dakota and Texas; Canada, Mexico; introduced in New Mexico, Utah). Bottomland forests, mesic to dry upland forests; bases, ledges, and tops of bluffs, banks of streams and rivers, and margins of upland prairies; also pastures, old fields, fencerows, railroads, and roadsides.

This species is planted as an ornamental, desirable because of its striking red berries and tolerance of drought, cold, and heavy soils. However, S. orbiculatus is an indicator of degraded forests and woodlands that tends to form dense thickets in response to disturbance from grazing. Rare plants with white fruits have been called f. leucocarpus (D. Andrews) Rehder. Steyermark (1963) noted that in some southern states, the stems have been used in basketry.

 


 

 
 
© 2024 Missouri Botanical Garden - 4344 Shaw Boulevard - Saint Louis, Missouri 63110