Flora of North America species comparison

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Shepherdia argentea

buffalo-berry, silver buffaloberry, thorny buffalo-berry
Habit Shrubs or trees, 1–5 m, densely clonal, from underground stems.
Stems

armed, spines 2–5 cm.
Leaves

deciduous;

blade elliptic or obovate, 2–5 × 0.5–1.5(–2.5) cm, margins plane, surfaces silvery-pubescent.
Flowers

sepals yellow, 2–3 mm on staminate flowers, 1–1.5 mm on pistillate flowers;

nectary disc conspicuous.
Fruits

bright red-orange or yellow, globose, 6–9 mm, fleshy, sparsely lepidote.
Seeds

brown, 3–4 mm.
2n

= 22, 26.

Shepherdia argentea
Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Moist habitats, canyon floors, meadows, open slopes, sometimes on alkaline soils.
Elevation 300–2300 m. (1000–7500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; KS; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Shepherdia argentea is possibly escaped in the eastern United States (reported from New York; possibly only in gardens).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Elaeagnaceae > Shepherdia
Sibling taxa
S. canadensis, S. rotundifolia
Synonyms Hippophaë argentea, Elaeagnus utilis, Lepargyrea argentea
Name authority (Pursh) Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 240. (1818)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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