266 CAPRI FOLIACEAE 



open, bell-shaped to flattened, regular corolla, to which the 4 

 or 5 stamens are adnate. The ovary is 4-celled and develops 

 into a globose to ovoid berry, which contains only 2 seeds. 



There are about 10 species of coralberries, all of them North 

 American, with individual ranges that extend over most of the 

 North American continent and south into the mountains in 

 Mexico. Two species occur in Illinois. 



Key to the Coralberry Species 



Branchlets pubescent, purplish; fruit red S. orbiculatus 



Branchlets nearly glabrous, brownish red; fruit white 



S. occidentalis 



SYMPHORICARPOS ORBICULATUS Moench 

 Buckbrush Coralberry Indian Currant 



Buckbrush, fig. 71, is an erect or spreading, often densely 

 branched shrub commonly 2 to 4 feet high with shreddy bark 

 on the main stems and light brown bark and purplish pubescence 

 on the branchlets. The thick, oval leaves are opposite, ^4 to 2 

 inches long and up to 1]/^ inches wide, and entire or wavy along 

 the margins. The blade is obtuse to acute at the apex, rounded 

 or narrowed at the base, glabrous or nearly so above at maturity, 

 but more or less densely pubescent w4th long hairs beneath. The 

 petioles are usually less than Ys inch long. 



The pinkish flowers, which occur in dense clusters or short 

 spikes in the axils of upper leaves, or terminally, bloom from 

 about the first of July until after mid August. The purplish- 

 red fruit, which begins to ripen in September, is a globose to 

 ovoid, rather dry berry, about 14 inch in diameter, which con- 

 tains 2 small, bony, flat, oblong seeds. 



Distribution. — Buckbrush grows in many kinds of soil and 

 in many situations, from New York to South Dakota and south 

 to Georgia and Texas. In Illinois, where it is perhaps the best 

 known native shrub, it ranges in greater or less abundance 

 throughout the entire state. It is rarer in the extreme north, 

 and south of the Ozarks, than in other parts and possibly may 

 be absent from a small region in the northwest corner of the 

 state. 



This shrub is much used in cultivation as an ornamental, its 

 slender, red berry-covered branches lending attractive color in 

 fall and w^inter. 



