Coralberry

Sometimes a pretty bush is so widespread, it gets overlooked.

Anyone who is touring Kansas in winter spots these bright red berries on deciduous bushes. The Latin name is Symphoricarpos orbiculatus.The common name is Coralberry, one word. The shrub is found from New York to Alabama, and north to Minnesota.

I spotted this plant at Lake El Dorado in December of 2013. I was walking along a woodland path.

Coralberry bush Kansas

This plant grows as a  small, mound-shaped, deciduous shrub with shredding bark on older wood with brown to purplish branchlets, usually growing to 4 ft. but can reach 6 ft.