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Elaeagnaceae
Buffalo Berry Flower
Shepherdia argentea
Resourcefulness.
- Family
- Elaeagnaceae
- Genus
- Shepherdia
- Native to
- North America
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Type
- deciduous shrub
- Height
- 6-15 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- well-drained, alkaline, adaptable
- Water
- low
- Hardiness
- 2-7
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- Native Americans mixed the tart berries with buffalo meat and fat to make pemmican, a high-energy trail food.
- The silver-scaled leaves give the shrub a shimmering appearance in the wind.
- Like legumes, buffalo berry fixes nitrogen through root nodules, enriching poor prairie soils.
- The berries are easiest to harvest after a frost, when they can be shaken from the thorny branches onto sheets.
- It is one of the toughest native shrubs, surviving extreme cold, drought, and alkaline soils.
Color meanings
0
sustenance
1
practicality