Snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus

Description

A shrub reaching 1 to 3 metres, branches quite erect and arching, slender. Leaves round-oval. Flowers pink, bell shaped, 5 to 6 mm long in small spike like racemes. Fruit is a white pulpy berry, 10 to 15 mm

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Hedgerows and embankments, sometimes forming dense thickets by growth of suckers.

When to see it

June to September.

Life History

Deciduous.

UK Status

Locally naturalised throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 264 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Snowberry
Species group:
flowering plant
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Dipsacales
Family:
Caprifoliaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
149
First record:
09/07/2007 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
16/11/2025 (HUGHES, NEIL)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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Latest images

Latest records

Photo of the association

Phyllonorycter emberizaepenella

The larva of the moth Phyllonorycter emberizaepenella mines the leaves of various Honeysuckle species and Snowberry causing a large tentiform mine.

Photo of the association

Phyllonorycter trifasciella

The larva of the moth Phyllonorycter trifasciella mines the leaves of various Honeysuckle species and Snowberry producing a small tentiform mine that contracts diagonally causing the leaf to roll up. 

Photo of the association

Aulagromyza hendeliana

The larva of the Agromyzid fly Aulagromyza hendeliana mines the leaves of Honeysuckles and Snowberry.   The mine is upper surface, long and linear, with frass in a double row of black grains. The puparium should be examined in order to confirm this species. 

Photo of the association

Aulagromyza luteoscutellata

The larva of the Agromyzid fly Aulagromyza luteoscutellata mine the leaves of Honeysuckle, Snowberry and Himalayan Honeysuckle. The mine is linear, with frass in a broad green band with scattered dark granules.

Photo of the association

Chromatomyia lonicerae

The larva of the Agromyzid fly Chromatomyia lonicerae mines the leaves of Honeysuckle and Snowberry. The leafmine starts with an irregular star-like blotch with a later linear corridor. Frass is usually visible in pearl-strings. Pupation is internal with the pupa firmly adhered within the mine by frass.

Photo of the association

Chromatomyia periclymeni

The larva of the Agromyzid fly Chromatomyia periclymeni mines the leaves of various members of the Honeysuckle family, including Honeysuckle, Himalayan Honeysuckle and Snowberry. It is an upper surface mine and usually blotchy and not associated with the midrib. The young mine is arranged in a radiating pattern like a star  and is initially purple in colour but turning brown as it ages.