Symphoricarpos palmeri G.N. Jones

A thicket-forming shrub, with a trailing habit. Shoots with short curved hairs, older bark grey, shredding. Buds downy, acute, only 1–2 mm long. Leaves oval to ovate, 10–30 × 5–20 mm, the tip acute or even apiculate, the base cuneate, the margin ciliate and often lobed, sinuous or crenate; upper surface dark green and slightly reticulate, the lower surface strongly reticulate and grey-downy under the veins; petiole pubescent, 1–3 mm long. Flowers paired in the upper leaf axils or solitary, bracts lanceolate, acute, pubescent, bractlets oval, acute, pubescent; calyx glaucous, nearly glabrous, with 5 very shallow (c. 0.3 mm long) teeth; corolla pinkish, more or less tubular, symmetrical, 9–12 mm long, with lobes a quarter to a third as long as the tube, pilose inside in the lower part; anthers 2–2.5 mm, shorter than the filaments, style glabrous, 2–4 mm; fruit white, ellipsoid, 6–8 mm long; nutlets flattened, blunt-tipped, 4–5 × 2–3 mm. (Jones 1940).

Distribution  Mexico Chihuahua United States Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas

Habitat Banks of canyons, ravines and rubble slopes, at high elevations.

USDA Hardiness Zone 5

RHS Hardiness Rating H6

Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)

Taxonomic note Symphoricarpos palmeri is treated (along with many other taxa) as a synonym for S. rotundifolius in Plants of the World Online (Plants of the World Online 2021) but is considered a distinct species by Bell (Bell 2009) and by some other authorities. Genetic sampling of one specimen by Bell (Bell 2010) failed to show very clear differences from S. rotundifolius.