Common Name: roundleaf snowberry

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Shrub

General: Deciduous shrub, up to 1 m tall; stems erect to straggling.

Leaves: Opposite along the twigs, on short petioles 1-3 mm long; blades somewhat circular to broadly ovate, 1-3 cm long, the surfaces softly pubescent, paler below, margins entire or nearly so.

Flowers: Pink or white, paired or in small clusters in the leaf axils; calyx up to 1 mm long, with 5 triangular lobes; corolla pink or white, funnel-shaped, 8-10 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes much shorter than the tube, pubescent on the inner surface.

Fruits: White drupe (single seeded cherry-like fruit), ovate or ellipsoid, 1 cm long.

Ecology: Found on dry, rocky slopes from 4,000-10,000 ft (1219-3048 m); flowers May-August.

Distribution: Western N. Amer from CAN to n MEX.

Ethnobotany: Ramah Navajo used the leaves as a ceremonial emetic.

Etymology: Symphoricarpos is from the Greek symphorein, to bear together, and karpos, fruits, referring to the clusters of white berries; rotundifolius means round-leaved.

Editor: AHazelton 2017