Snowberry
Symphoricarpos albus
Overview
Photo credit: © Algirdas. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8112466
Symphoricarpos albus
Common Names:
Habitat:
Origin and Worldwide Distribution:
Potential or Known Impacts:
How did it get here?
Is it found in Northern Ireland?
You can help by reporting any sightings: @ the Centre for Environmental Data & Recording (CEDaR) - Or via the iRecord App.
Methods for Prevention:
For further queries, you can contact the Invasive Non Native Species (INNS) Team in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on 028 9056 9558 or Email: invasivespecies@daera-ni.gov.uk
Symphoricarpos albus
Common Names:
- Lardy Balls, Symphoricapos racemosus, Symphoricarpos rivularis
Habitat:
- Widely planted as cover for game in woodland and for hedging in urban and suburban area. Naturalising over time into woodland, scrub, hedgerows and waste ground.
Description:
- Snowberry is a bushy rhizomatous, thicket-forming perennial deciduous erect then arching shrub which can grow to 2-3m tall. It has slender stems with few branches.
- Leaves usually 1.5 – 5cm long (can grow up to 7cm long), are rounded but occasionally lobed and are in an opposite arrangement.
- From spring to the summer, clusters of tiny bright pink, bell-like flowers 6mm long, appear at the ends of the branches.
- These are followed in late summer by waxy-looking, white berries which are up to 1.5cm in diameter.
Origin and Worldwide Distribution:
- Widespread across Ireland, United Kingdom and much of Europe.
Potential or Known Impacts:
- Displaces native species by forming dense thickets by suckering. Berries are poisonous to humans.
© H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11141267
© lern CC BY-NC 4.0, https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/65730685
How did it get here?
- S. albus was introduced as an ornamental plant and also widely planted in woods as game cover.
Is it found in Northern Ireland?
- Widespread in Northern Ireland.
- More distribution details can be seen on NBN Atlas NI.
You can help by reporting any sightings: @ the Centre for Environmental Data & Recording (CEDaR) - Or via the iRecord App.
Methods for Prevention:
- Report any sightings.
- Do not plant this species – plant native species instead.
- Do not take or give cuttings from wild or cultivated plants.
- Deadhead specimens that you are removing.
- Dispose with care as it can rapidly germinate and grow in different habitats.
- Know what you are growing.
- Never collect plants from the wild.
- Safely dispose of plants and growing media.