1. Symphoricarpos albus (L.) S.F. Blake (white coralberry)

Map 1431, Pl. 336 d

Plants shrubs 0.1–1.0 m tall. Bark gray, thin, tending to become shredded. Petioles 1–5 mm long. Leaf blades 2–4 cm long, 12–25 mm wide, oblong-elliptic to ovate, rounded or broadly angled at the base, rounded or angled to a bluntly pointed tip, sometimes abruptly tapered to a minute, sharp point, the upper surface bright green to dark green, the undersurface pale green, glabrous (inconspicuously hairy elsewhere), somewhat glaucous. Flowers short-stalked, mostly appearing in clusters. Corollas 5–7 mm long, lobed about 1/3 of the way to the base, pale pink. Stamens with the anthers 1.0–1.5 mm long, not exserted from the corolla. Styles glabrous. Fruits 7–15 mm in diameter, white. Nutlets 4–5 mm long, elliptic in outline, more or less pointed at each end. 2n=54. May–July.

Introduced, uncommon, known thus far from a single specimen from the city of St. Louis (northern U.S. [including Alaska] south to Virginia, Illinois, and California; Canada; introduced farther south). Railroads.

This species sometimes is grown in Missouri gardens, but it is known outside of cultivation from a single specimen that consists of a depauperate, unhealthy twig, dying back from the tip, with no flowers or fruit, bearing only a few tiny leaves (to 9 mm long) near its base. It was collected and reported by Mühlenbach (1983), but the identification based on such poor material is somewhat uncertain. The description and flowering time above are taken from specimens within the native range of the species. Most material of the species has the leaves pubescent beneath, but our specimen has glabrous leaves. It thus is referable to var. laevigatus (Fernald) S.F. Blake, a trivial segregate that occurs natively in the western portion of the species range but is commonly cultivated farther east.