Symphoricarpos acutus (A. Gray) Dieck

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Credits

Owen Johnson (2021)

Recommended citation
Johnson, O. (2021), 'Symphoricarpos acutus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/symphoricarpos/symphoricarpos-acutus/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Common Names

  • Creeping Snowberry
  • Trailing Snowberry
  • Sharpleaf Snowberry

Synonyms

  • Symphoricarpos mollis var. acutus A. Gray
  • Symphoricarpos rotundifolius var. acutus Frye & Rigg

Glossary

clone
Organism arising via vegetative or asexual reproduction.
synonym
(syn.) (botanical) An alternative or former name for a taxon usually considered to be invalid (often given in brackets). Synonyms arise when a taxon has been described more than once (the prior name usually being the one accepted as correct) or if an article of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has been contravened requiring the publishing of a new name. Developments in taxonomic thought may be reflected in an increasing list of synonyms as generic or specific concepts change over time.
taxon
(pl. taxa) Group of organisms sharing the same taxonomic rank (family genus species infraspecific variety).
variety
(var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.

Credits

Owen Johnson (2021)

Recommended citation
Johnson, O. (2021), 'Symphoricarpos acutus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/symphoricarpos/symphoricarpos-acutus/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Procumbent or trailing shrub with stems to 80 cm long; shoot grey, velvety with short straight spreading hairs. Mature bark shredding. Buds hairy, ovoid, to 1 mm long. Leaves ovate, 10–30 × 6–18 mm, usually with an acute tipe, dark green and variably pubescent above, pale green and densely pubescent beneath, with reticulate veins; margin often sinuate or distantly toothed or with odd lobes; petiole pubescent, 2–3 mm long. Flowers opening (in the wild) June–July, 1 or 2 in axils, shortly pedicellate; bracts and bractlets oval, densely pubescent; calyx 4 or 5-toothed; sepals ciliate, acute, with a short pubescence on their back side. Corolla bright pink, bell-shaped, 4–5 mm long; lobes obtuse, as long as the tube; villous within; stamens shorter than corolla, anthers 1 mm; style 2–2.5 mm long, glabrous. Fruits 1 or 2 in axils, 4–6 mm wide, white; nutlets 4 × 2 mm. (Jones 1940).

Distribution  United States California, Nevada, Oregon

Habitat Dry mountainsides, to 2500 m asl.

USDA Hardiness Zone 5a

RHS Hardiness Rating H6

Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)

In its low, trailing habit, Symphoricarpos acutus resembles the more widespread S. mollis, but flowers later and has less hairy, less rounded and more often lobed or toothed leaves. Some authorities treat it a variety of S. mollis, while others such as Charles Bell (Bell 2009) consider it a synonym or a variant of the common and upright S. albus subsp. laevigatus. In the United States the taxon has been cultivated since 1888 (Jones 1940) and remains commercially available, but it has probably not never been introduced to north-western Europe, where few gardens are likely to match the conditions this plant favours in the wild.

It is possible that the matt-forming garden clone ‘San Bruno Mountain’, selected by the California Flora Nursery from a plant found on this Californian mountain and sold by them as a form of Symphoricarpos albus subsp. laevigatus (q.v.), is better placed under S. acutus.