Family: Caprifoliaceae, Honeysuckle view all from this family

Description This hollow-stemmed shrub has tiny, pinkish-white, bell- shaped flowers in small terminal or axillary clusters.
Flowers: 1/4" (6 mm) long; corolla 5-lobed.
Leaves: 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) long; opposite, oval, dull gray-green.
Fruit: a white, waxy, berry-like drupe, 1/2" (1.3 cm) wide, persisting into early winter.
Height: 1-4' (30-120 cm).
Flowering: May-July.

Warning Berries and stems (often used as whistles) are mildly toxic to children. May be fatal to animals. Sensitivity to a toxin varies with a person’s age, weight, physical condition, and individual susceptibility. Children are most vulnerable because of their curiosity and small size. Toxicity can vary in a plant according to season, the plant’s different parts, and its stage of growth; and plants can absorb toxic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and pollutants from the water, air, and soil.

Habitat Rocky banks and roadsides.

Range Alaska to Hudson Bay; Quebec and western Massachusetts south to North Carolina, Missouri, and Nebraska; in the west in Rockies to New Mexico and along the coast to California.

Discussion This plant was once popular in old-fashioned dooryard gardens; variety laevigatus of this shrub is also cultivated. Two other species are often encountered: Coralberry (S. orbiculatus), with sessile, axillary, purplish-green flowers and showy clusters of pink berries; and Wolfberry (S. occidentalis) a dry prairie shrub with pale pink flowers, leathery, oval leaves, and greenish-white fruit.