Symphoricarpos rivularis

(see S. albus laevigatus, http://www.laspilitas.com/plants/667.htm) A 2-4ft deciduous shrub, gradually forming a small thicket 4-6ft wide. Native to the coast ranges, San Luis Obispo north to Alaska. It has edible, (only if you are dying!) white berries. It likes sun to shade, some summer water. Hummingbirds work this in summer when the small pinkish flowers are on it. We sell a large amount of this in the fall because of the white berries. It will not set berries in the milder areas of the state. This is a nice underused plant. If you live in an area of snow it is an effective large scale groundcover. Its root system is vigorous and deep enough to hold most banks. It is streamside in many locales and would be an excellent restoration plant. Thrashers and towees will eat the berries when they get hungry enough to eat them. (They are very bitter.) (The berries rot on the bushes in good years, in bad they do not even get a chance to ripen.) This plant is native down the road from us where there is a little more moisture. There, the rainfall range seems to be 25inch and up. Soils do not seem to matter as long as they can drain a little. This species can take the interior conditions a whole lot better than S.mollis.