''Shepherdia'', commonly called buffaloberry or bullberry, is a genus of small shrubs in the

Elaeagnaceae The Elaeagnaceae are a plant family, the oleaster family, of the order Rosales comprising small trees and shrubs, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, south into tropical Asia and Australia. The family has about 60 species in ...

family. The plants are native to northern and western North America. They are

non-legume nitrogen fixer Actinorhizal plants are a group of angiosperms characterized by their ability to form a symbiosis with the nitrogen fixing actinomycetota ''Frankia''. This association leads to the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Actinorhizal plants ar ...

s. ''Shepherdia'' is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, with male and female flowers produced on separate plants.

Species

The genus has three living species: *''

Shepherdia argentea ''Shepherdia argentea'', commonly called silver buffaloberry, bull berry, or thorny buffaloberry, is a species of ''Shepherdia'' in the Oleaster family. It is native to central and western North America. Description ''Shepherdia argentea'' is a ...

'' - silver buffaloberry *''

Shepherdia canadensis ''Shepherdia canadensis'', commonly called Canada buffaloberry, russet buffaloberry, soopolallie, soapberry, or foamberry (Ktunaxa: ') is one of a small number of shrubs of the genus ''Shepherdia'' that bears edible berries. Description The plan ...

'' - Canada buffaloberry *''

Shepherdia rotundifolia ''Shepherdia rotundifolia'', the roundleaf buffaloberry or silverleaf, is a evergreen shrub in the oleaster family (Elaeagnaceae) that grows only in the Colorado Plateau (endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a si ...

'' - roundleaf buffaloberry,

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to southern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and northern

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

An additional extinct species is also placed in the genus: *†''

Shepherdia weaveri ''Shepherdia'', commonly called buffaloberry or bullberry, is a genus of small shrubs in the Elaeagnaceae family. The plants are native to northern and western North America. They are non-legume nitrogen fixers. ''Shepherdia'' is dioecious, with ...

'' -

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Kachemak Bay, Alaska

Fruit

The berry is recognizable by being a dark shade of red, with little white dots on them. They are rough to the touch, and are found on both trees and shrubs.

Wildlife

The plants have rather bitter-tasting berries. The fruit are often eaten by

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

s, which by legend, prefer the berries to maintain fat stores during

hibernation Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is mos ...

. Buffaloberries are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

species, including ''

Ectropis crepuscularia The engrailed and small engrailed (''Ectropis crepuscularia'') are moths of the family Geometridae found from the British Isles through central and eastern Europe to the Russian Far East and Kazakhstan. The western Mediterranean and Asia Minor ...

'' (recorded from ''S. canadensis'') and ''

Coleophora elaeagnisella The speckled casebearer moth (''Coleophora elaeagnisella'') is a species of moth in the family Coleophoridae. It is found in North America, from the Great Lakes northward, including Michigan and Ontario. The larvae feed on the leaves of ''Elaea ...

''.

As food

Buffaloberries are sour and can be made into jam, pie, jelly, syrup, soups, or prepared like

cranberry sauce Cranberry sauce or cranberry jam is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly served as a condiment or a side dish with Thanksgiving dinner in North America and Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom and Canada. There are differences ...

with sugar added.

References

External links

* {{- Rosales genera Dioecious plants Flora of Northern America Taxa described in 1818 Taxa named by Thomas Nuttall