Field Guide

Red-berried elderberry reaches 24 feet in height and does not form colonies. Its white flowers, and later, red berries, are in pyramidal clusters. In Missouri, it’s known only from Marion County.

Buckbrush, or coralberry, grows throughout Missouri. This familiar thicket-forming shrub bears dense clusters of pinkish-red berries that persist through most of the winter.

Eastern wahoo is a native shrub or small tree that grows in wooded areas, near streams, and in thickets. In fall, dainty pink or purplish four-lobed fruit capsules dangle from its branches.

Southern black haw is an irregularly branched shrub with shiny, dark green, opposite leaves whose lower surface is paler with scattered rusty hairs, especially on the veins. It bears clusters of white flowers, which turn into bluish-black fruits.

American beautyberry is a many-branched shrub that bears attractive rounded clusters of purple berrylike fruits in the axils of the leaves in late summer and fall. A critically imperiled species in Missouri, it is also a popular native shrub for landscaping.