Flora of New Zealand Series

snowberry bush

Nearly glabrous, deciduous shrub to c. 2 m high, forming dense thickets; stems ± erect, rather stout. Petioles 3-6 mm long, channelled above, sometimes ciliate. Lamina 2-4.5 × 1-3.5 cm (uppermost sometimes smaller), usually broad-ovate or broad-elliptic, less commonly elliptic, occasionally slightly lobed, otherwise entire, glaucous beneath, ± ciliate; veins level with surface; base broad-cuneate or rounded; apex obtuse or mucronate. Fls in axillary clusters or short terminal spikes. Peduncles glabrous. Bracts and bracteoles 1-2 mm long, broad-ovate, ciliolate. Calyx 0.5-1 mm long; lobes similar to bracts. Corolla c. 6 mm long, campanulate, pink, white-bearded inside. Stamens slightly exserted. Style included, glabrous. Drupe 10-15 mm diam., globose or subglobose, white, usually with several smaller abortive frs in same infructescence; pulp mealy. Pyrenes 3-4 mm long, whitish.

S.: fully naturalised in a few places, particularly around Reefton (inland Westland) and Sheffield (inland Canterbury).

W. North America 1981

Waste land, roadsides.

FL Dec-May.

Snowberry bush is mainly cultivated in the South Id where it is common in colder regions and long persists as a relic of cultivation. N.Z. plants are closest to var. laevigatus (Fern.) S. F. Blake (sometimes known as S. rivularis) which is characterised by its large fr. and lvs, and almost glabrous shoots. The name snowberry bush refers to the succulent white frs; these may be poisonous, whereas the superficially similar frs of the indigenous montane snowberry, Gaultheria depressa, are edible.