leaves are opposite,
2-4 cm long, and may be round or have several shallow, wavy lobes. All
leaves are dull green and hairless, except beneath when young. They
are on short stalks about 5 mm long.
Snowberry is an
shrub, 1-3 m high. It spreads by suckers
and forms large thickets in the woodlands and shrubberies, in which
it has been planted for game cover.
The small, pink,
bell-shaped, 5-petalled flowers are hairy inside and only 5-6mm across.
They are arranged in spikes of 3-7 at the tips of branches and open
from June to September.
The white, globe-shaped
berries, 10-15 mm
across, mature in autumn. Each berry
has 2 parts each with a single seed, but they rarely ripen in Britain.
are not very attractive to birds but are eaten by pheasants in hard
The leaves are
food for the caterpillars of Death's-head Hawk-moths.
It is a native
of western North America, introduced to Britain in 1817.