Symphoricarpos longiflorus
Encyclopedia
Symphoricarpos longiflorus is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family
known by the common names desert snowberry and fragrant snowberry. It is native to the western United States from the Great Basin
to Texas
, where it grows in rocky desert habitat, sagebrush
, chaparral
, forests, woodlands, and other habitat. It is most often found in dry habitat types. It is an erect, spreading shrub
with many stiff branches, reaching up to about a meter in maximum height. It is hairless to lightly hairy and sometimes glandular, and the branches may be lined with tiny spines. The bark is reddish and ages white and shreddy. The thick, fuzzy, green or blue-tinged leaves are generally lance-shaped, sometimes with rounded tips. They are usually no more than 2 centimeters long. The fragrant flowers occur singly or in pairs in leaf axils, or are borne in a small raceme
. Each flower has a long, slender, tubular throat up to 1.5 centimeters long, and a spreading face with five pointed lobes. The tube is bright to pale pink or cream in color, and the face of the corolla may be lighter in tone. The fruit is a dry drupe
under a centimeter wide which contains two seeds.
Caprifoliaceae
The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade consisting of about 800 dicotyledonous flowering plants, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution; centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and eastern Asia, while they are absent in tropical and southern Africa.They are mostly...
known by the common names desert snowberry and fragrant snowberry. It is native to the western United States from the Great Basin
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, where it grows in rocky desert habitat, sagebrush
Sagebrush
Sagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...
, chaparral
Chaparral
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...
, forests, woodlands, and other habitat. It is most often found in dry habitat types. It is an erect, spreading shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
with many stiff branches, reaching up to about a meter in maximum height. It is hairless to lightly hairy and sometimes glandular, and the branches may be lined with tiny spines. The bark is reddish and ages white and shreddy. The thick, fuzzy, green or blue-tinged leaves are generally lance-shaped, sometimes with rounded tips. They are usually no more than 2 centimeters long. The fragrant flowers occur singly or in pairs in leaf axils, or are borne in a small raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
. Each flower has a long, slender, tubular throat up to 1.5 centimeters long, and a spreading face with five pointed lobes. The tube is bright to pale pink or cream in color, and the face of the corolla may be lighter in tone. The fruit is a dry drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
under a centimeter wide which contains two seeds.