Common Snowberry

Symphoricarpos albus

Hosts 2 caterpillarsSpecialist hostBird foodPollinator plant

Growing it

When	Flowers June to July; fruits September to October
Type	shrub
Sun	Full sun, partial shade
Water	Low, medium
Soil	pH 5.5–7.5
Hardiness	zone 3–7
Mature height	1.5 m
Mature spread	1.5 m
Spacing	1 m
Years to maturity	3
Bloom	Jun–Jul
Flower colour	Pink not verified, a genus-level estimate
In bloom	June July
Fruit	Sep–Oct
Native to	AB, SK

egg-shaped leaves about 4 cm long in opposite pairs; several stems from the base

Where it has been recorded

BothSpecimensObservations

199 squares of about 28 km, each holding at least one record. A square is not a claim that the plant grows throughout it, and an unshaded square is unrecorded rather than empty. Darker squares hold more records, which follows roads and towns as much as it follows the plant. 48 herbarium specimens and 572 field observations this project may redraw. A filled dot is a pressed sheet somebody can re-examine; a hollow ring is a photograph identified by community agreement. Where the dots are dense is where people have looked, not where the plant is commonest, and empty ground is unsurveyed rather than unoccupied. How this map is made.

Which ecoregions the records fall in

Aspen Parkland central AB / SK: 350 records, high confidence
Western Alberta Upland central AB: 260 records, high confidence
Northern Continental Divide south AB: 199 records, high confidence
Boreal Transition central AB / SK: 140 records, high confidence
Fescue Grassland south AB: 62 records, high confidence
Moist Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 50 records, high confidence
Mid-Boreal Uplands central AB / SK: 25 records, high confidence
Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 22 records, high confidence
Peace Lowland north AB: 15 records, medium confidence
Cypress Upland south AB / SK: 12 records, medium confidence
Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 10 records, medium confidence
Wabasca Lowland north AB: 10 records, medium confidence
Slave River Lowland north AB: 7 records, low confidence
Western Boreal central AB: 5 records, low confidence

These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.

See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.

Documented animals

86 documented relationships, 1 with a specialist that has no alternative.

nectar for

Aerial Yellowjacket Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Ancistrocerus adiabatus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena candida Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena knuthiana LaManna et al. 2020
Andrena lupinorum Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena nivalis LaManna et al. 2020
Andrena scurra Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena thaspii LaManna et al. 2020
Bald-faced Hornet Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Black-tailed Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Brown-belted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Brown-tailed Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Bumblebee-like Digger Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Central Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Colletes kincaidii Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Common Wood-Nymph Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Coral Hairstreak Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eucera edwardsii LaManna et al. 2020
Frigid Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Golden Northern Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Half-black Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
High Country Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Hoplitis sambuci Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Hunt's Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Lasioglossum nigroviride LaManna et al. 2020
Lasioglossum occidentale LaManna et al. 2020
Megachile frigida Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Megachile perihirta Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Megachile pugnata LaManna et al. 2020
Nevada Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Orange-banded Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Orange-legged Furrow Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Physocephala burgessi Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red-belted Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Sitka Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Toxomerus occidentalis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Tricoloured Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Two-ranked Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Vancouver Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Western Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Yellow Cuckoo Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org

pollen for

Aerial Yellowjacket Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena auricoma Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena lupinorum Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena miranda Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena nivalis Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena prunorum Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena salicifloris Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena sola Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena subtilis Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena trevoris Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena vicina Guzman et al. 2022
Andrena w-scripta Guzman et al. 2022
Bald-faced Hornet Guzman et al. 2022
Black-tailed Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Brown-tailed Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Calliope Hummingbird Guzman et al. 2022
Central Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Colletes fulgidus Guzman et al. 2022
Colletes kincaidii Guzman et al. 2022
Drone Fly Guzman et al. 2022
Epalpus signifer Guzman et al. 2022
Epistrophe xanthostoma Guzman et al. 2022
Eristalis anthophorina Guzman et al. 2022
Hoplitis sambuci Guzman et al. 2022
Hunt's Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Hylaeus modestus Guzman et al. 2022
Lasioglossum pacatum Guzman et al. 2022
Megachile melanophaea Guzman et al. 2022
Megachile perihirta Guzman et al. 2022
Orange-legged Furrow Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Osmia coloradensis Guzman et al. 2022
Osmia pusilla Guzman et al. 2022
Sitka Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Two-ranked Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Vespula consobrina Guzman et al. 2022
Volucella bombylans Guzman et al. 2022
Western Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee Guzman et al. 2022

caterpillar host for

Aulagromyza cornigera Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Pohl et al. 2018
Snowberry Clearwing ★Pohl et al. 2018

fruit for

Spotted Towhee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Yellow-rumped Warbler Specimen records from iNaturalist.org

Also worth knowing

Safety

Low toxicity to pets; Low toxicity to people

Buying it

About $25–$50 per plant (estimate), usually stocked by garden centres. Estimate (shrub default); AB retail as of 2026

Where these numbers came from

Flower detail: not verified, a genus-level estimate