GOERT: Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team

An erect evergreen shrub reaching 60 cm tall. Compound leaves resemble holly and are clustered at the base, with nine to nineteen leathery and spiny leaflets that turn purplish in winter. Flowers are bright yellow racemes, becoming edible berries with large seeds and a whitish bloom (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). Photo by Carolyn Masson.

Medium to tall shrub, 1-5 m tall; stems clumped, arching; pith chambered; bark bitter, purplish-brown. Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, lanceolate to oblong-egg-shaped or elliptic, short-stalked, the stalks 5-10 mm long, the blades 5-12 cm long, not toothed, pale green and smooth above, paler and often sparsely hairy below; crushed leaves smell like cucumber. Flowers: Inflorescences loose, drooping, bracted, 5- to 10-cm long clusters, at the ends of short axillary branchlets, of several (five to ten) stalked flowers; flowers mostly unisexual, the male and female flowers on separate plants, appearing very early in the year, as the leaves develop; corollas greenish-white, saucer- to cup-shaped, about 1 cm across, the petals five, egg-shaped, 5-6 mm long, spreading (shorter, narrower and erect on female flowers); calyces 6-7 mm long, five lobed, the lobes about equaling the top-shaped hypanthium; ovaries (female plants) usually five, superior; stamens 15. Fruits: Fleshy drupes, like small plums with a large stone, bean-shaped, about 1 cm long, peach-coloured, ripening to bluish-black with a whitish bloom, one to five per female flower; seeds one per drupe (Pojar et al., 1994). Photo by Dave Polster.

Erect, loosely branched shrub, to 3 m tall; bark dark brown, checking and eventually flaking off. Leaves opposite, deciduous, short-stalked, oval to egg-shaped, 3-5 cm long, light green, margins essentially smooth but with some teeth on young leaves, three major veins from the leaf base. Flowers white, 2-3 cm broad, fragrant, usually with four petals and numerous stamens, 3-15 in clusters at the end of lateral branches. Fruits oval, woody, four chambered capsules approximately 1 cm long. Vegetative and floral characteristics are extremely variable depending on local ecological conditions (Pojar et al., 1994).

Erect, unarmed, 1-3 m tall shrub. Stems crooked. Bark reddish-brown and finely hairy on young growth. Leaves deciduous, alternate, commonly five-lobed, 2-6 cm broad and paler and hairier below. Flowers commonly rose coloured but vary from white to deep red, in erect to dropping clusters of 10-20 or more flowers. Fruits blue-black, round berries with glandular hairs and a waxy, white bloom, 7-9 mm long (Pojar et al.). Photo by Dave Polster.

Spindly shrub, to 3 m tall, with a pair of large prickles at the base of the each leaf, other prickles usually absent except on some new growth. Leaves alternate, deciduous, compound with an odd number (five to seven) of toothed leaflets; leaflets elliptic, 1-7 cm long, with more or less rounded tips. Five-petalled, pink flowers, with numerous stamens, are borne in clusters (not single) at the branch tips; usually less than 4 cm across, they have sharp-pointed leaflets. Fruits purplish-red, round ‘hips’, 1-2 cm across, with numerous bony, hairy achenes (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994).

Spindly shrub, to 1.5 m tall, with slender stems, usually with numerous soft, straight (not curved) prickles, sometimes unarmed especially on younger stems, which are usually covered with stalked glands (needs hand lens). Leaves alternate, deciduous, compound with an odd number (five to nine) of toothed leaflets; leaflets 1-4 cm long; stipules present at the base of each leaf. Flowers small (1-2.5 cm across), pale-pink to rose; five petals, numerous stamens, usually solitary (not clustered), or occasionally in twos or threes, at the end of branches. Fruits orange to scarlet, pear-shaped ‘hips’, 6-10 mm across, without attached sepal lobes which fall away from the fruit early, leaving the end of the ‘hip’ uniquely bald; ‘seeds’ are bony, hairy achenes (one to seven per hip) (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). Photo by Dave Polster.

Unarmed, spreading 1-2 m tall shrub. Branches grey-brown covered with small, bran-like scabs on older stems and rusty spots on young growth. Leaves deciduous, opposite, oval, 2-6 cm long, dark green on upper surface and whitish/silvery felt of hairs and rusty brown scales on underside. Flowers inconspicuous (1-2 mm long), yellow-brown in colour. Male and female flowers on separate plants. Fruits bright red, translucent, oval, juicy berries. Berries are extremely bitter to the taste and soapy to the touch (Pojar et al.). Photo by Dave Polster.

Prostrate shrub with somewhat stoloniferous rooting stems sometimes forming mats several meters wide; bark reddish to brownish, peeling off; stems ascending at the tip, 5-15 cm tall, minutely hairy, sometimes glandular. Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, leathery, egg- to spoon-shaped, 1-3 cm long, 0.3-1.2 cm wide, rounded at tip, rarely pointed, narrowed basally; entire, glabrous to minutely hairy especially on the margins and midrib, dark green above, paler below; stalks 2-5 mm long. Flowers: several in few-flowered terminal clusters; flower stalks 2-5 mm long, straight or curved, borne in the axils of hairy bracts; corollas pinkish-white, urn-shaped, 4-6 mm long, five lobed; clayces 1-1.5 mm long. Fruits: berries, bright red, 5-10 mm wide (Douglas et al., 1999). Photo by Moralea Milne.

Deciduous, erect, much-branched shrub, often densely colonial from rhizomes, 0.5-3m tall, older stems dark greyish-brown with shredding bark; branchlets glabrous; twigs thin, wiry. Leaves: Opposite, on stalks 2-4 mm long, elliptic to oval, 1.5-5 cm long and 1-3.5 cm wide, obtuse at base and tip, margins entire or occasionally with a few wavy teeth; leaves often larger and irregularly lobed on sterile shoots; glabrous above, glabrous or spreading-hairy beneath. Flowers: Inflorescence of short, dense clusters (racemes) of few, short-stalked to nearly stalked flowers, at ends of twigs and often also in upper leaf axils; corollas widely bell-shaped, 5-7 mm long, hairy within; petals pink to whitish, fused at bases into tubes that flare at top to five lobes, which are as long to half as long as the tubes; styles 2-3 mm long, glabrous; stamens shorter than corolla lobes, the anthers 1-1.5 mm long, about as long as the filaments. Fruits: Berrylike drupes, densely clustered, waxy white-ellipsoid or nearly globose, 5-15 mm long; nutlets two, each enclosing a seed; some fruits persist through the winter (Douglas et al., 1998). Photo by Moralea Milne.

Erect shrub usually with several main stems to 4 m in height. Leaves alternate, deciduous, slightly hairy, and oval to triangular in shape with prominent veins and many small lobes with fine teeth. Flowers small, white to cream in colour, in dense terminal panicles of up to 30 cm in length. Flower clusters turn brown and remain on the plant over winter. Fruit is a tiny (2 mm long), yellowish-brown, hairy achene (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). Photo by Moralea Milne.