''Symphoricarpos longiflorus'' is a species of flowering plant in the

honeysuckle family The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America an ...

known by the common names desert snowberry and fragrant snowberry. It is native to the western United States from the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

to western

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, as well as northwestern Mexico (

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

).SEInet, Southwestern Biodiversity, Arizona chapter
photos, description, distribution mapJones, George Neville 1940. A monograph of the genus ''Symphoricarpos''. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 21(2): 201-252
/ref> ''Symphoricarpos longiflorus'' grows in rocky desert habitat,

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an alph ...

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

, forests, woodlands, and other habitat. It is most often found in dry habitat types.US Forest Service Fire Ecology
/ref> ''Symphoricarpos longiflorus'' is an erect, spreading

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

with many stiff branches, reaching up to about a meter (40 inches) in 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 (0.8 inches) long. The fragrant flowers occur singly or in pairs in leaf axils, or are borne in a small

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

. Each flower has a long, slender, tubular throat up to 1.5 centimeters (0.6 inch) 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 In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

under a centimeter wide with two seeds.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentCalphotos Photo gallery, University of California
longiflorus Flora of the Western United States Plants described in 1873 Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Dipsacales-stub