Western Snowberry

General Information

• Plants: Western snowberry plants are shrubs that can grow from 1–5 feet tall. It often grows in colonies along streams, in ditches, or other moist areas. Its leaves can range in size but are rounded to a pointed tip. Soft hairs cover young twigs, but become smooth as they mature.
• Flowers: Ranging from pale pink to white and usually bell shaped, these small flowers are strikingly pretty. Five stamens extend from the hairy inner tube of the flower, white in color with a green stigma at the top.
• Fruits: The green-white, round berries containing two seeds covered in a hardy outer layer are produced by the plant. These berries are edible when ripe, though they do contain saponins so should be eaten in small quantities, and have a strong wintergreen flavor. These berries often remain on the plant through the winter, turning a blue-black color.
• Flowering Season: June to August.
• Habitat/Range: Found in various environments across large swaths of Canada and the United States, as far north as the Northwest Territories and as far south as Texas, stretching west to Oregon and east to northern parts of the eastern seaboard.¹

Blackfeet Ethnobotany^*

by Darnell and Smokey Rides At The Door

The Blackfeet name for western snowberry is Aa Pin Nii Kim. It translates to 'ghost berry.' The plant's similar appearance to serviceberry earned it this name.

The Blackfeet teachings tell that there are two of everything. The western snowberry produces a white berry that is not edible. When ingested, it causes humans to throw up or become sick. The western snowberry is the twin to the serviceberry from Blackfeet teachings; it is the ghost of Okonoke (serviceberry), which is why it causes sickness, and is not to be eaten by the Real People (Blackfeet). The Creator gave this world balance, which is what this plant symbolizes. Because of its appearance and similarities to the serviceberry, the Blackfeet traditionally believe that the western snowberry is a plant that belongs in the spirit world.²

From the Journals

by H. Wayne Phillips

There is no remaining western snowberry specimen from the Expedition. The specimen was lost, however popular thought concurs that a plant specimen collected on August 2, 1804, could have been the western snowberry.³ Lewis wrote upon collecting specimen 26:

No. 26.— Taken on the 2ed of August in the parie at the Cuncil bluff. it is a species of honeysuccle; the flower is small and the tube of the flour is very small and short they smell precisely like the English Honeysuccle so much admired in our gardens.⁴

Gary Moulton concurs that this specimen is that of the western snowberry or buckbrush. The following year in 1805, the seeds of his collected common snowberry, Symphoricarpos albus, survived a flooded cache and made it back to Philadelphia.⁵

Additional Information: Of the 18 species of Symphoricarpos, 17 are native to North America and one native to China.⁶

^*While traditional medicine is still practiced in many cultures including the Blackfeet culture and has many uses, please do not consume any plant material without consultation of a health professional.