Coralberry

Description:

This small, mound-shaped, deciduous shrub with shredding bark on older wood and brown to purplish branchlets covered with short hairs visible under a 10x hand lens, usually grows to 4 ft. but can reach 6 ft. Its smooth, dull green leaves are opposite and roughly oval, tapering about equally to tip and base, up to 2 inches long but often less than 1 inch, with smooth, turned down margins and a rounded or broadly pointed tip. The greenish-white flower clusters are not as showy as the clusters of coral-pink to purple berries up to 1/4 inch in diameter which remain on the plant through winter. Particularly common in Post Oak (Quercus stellata) woods, Coralberry forms extensive colonies and spreads by rooting at the nodes where it touches the ground. A good choice for a woodland garden.

Habitat:

Wildlife habitat yard.

Notes:

The flowers attract bees, wasps and flies. The caterpillars of the moth species Hemaris diffinis (Snowberry Clearwing), Hemaris thysbe (Hummingbird Clearwing) and Hesperumia sulphuraria (Sulphur Moth) feed on the foliage. The aphid Apathargelia symphoricarpi and the thrips Thrips winnemanae suck juices from the undersides of the leaves. The berries persist into the fall and winter and are eaten primarily by robins (Turdus migratorius); the buds and berries also are eaten by the bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus). Coralberry or “buckbrush” is a favorite food plant of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and it is often heavily browsed. Think of it as the deer pruning it back for you every spring. The berries remain through most of the winter because they contain saponin, a natural detergent that is mildly toxic in small quantities and can cause digestive upset in humans and small mammals. That makes coralberry a food of last resort after the tastier stuff is gone.