SYMPHORICARPUS 



28; 



ovules, the others with a single ovule in each, style slender, stigma capitate 

 or 2-lobed; fruit a 2-seeded berry, seeds bony. 



A genus of about 10 species, natives of North America. 



Key to the Species 



1. Flowers in dense, axillary and terminal spikes, stamens and styles pro- 



truded S. occidcntalis 



2. Flowers in few-flowered, interrupted spikes, at the ends of the branch- 



es, stamens and styles not protruded S. racemosiis 



Symphoricarpus occidentalis Hooker 1833 Wolfberry 



A low, erect shrub, 0.3-1 m. high, sometimes considerably branched, 

 bark gray and shreddy on the older branches ; leaves ovate, rounded, or 

 narrowed at the base, blunt or acute at the apex, entire or undulate- 



crenate or sometimes lobed, glabrous above, thinly pubescent at least 

 along the veins beneath, 2-7 cm. long, 1.5-4.5 cm. wide, or occasionally 

 much larger, petioles 4-10 mm. long, often pubescent; flowers in dense 

 axillary and terminal spikes, corolla pinkish, short funnel-form, 6-9 mm. 

 long, very hairy within, stamens and style protruding beyond the end of 

 the corolla; fruit a nearly globular berry, white, 7-10 mm. in diameter: 

 occidentalis, western. 



In dry or rocky soil, common and often abundant except northeast- 

 ward. Distributed from northern Mich, and 111. to Kan. and west to 



