Species › Plants › Silver Buffaloberry

Silver Buffaloberry

Shepherdia argentea

CommonPlant
Illustration of Silver Buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea)

Silver Buffaloberry is a thorny native shrub of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain foothills with distinctive silver-scaled leaves and abundant red-orange berries. The berries are tart and astringent when raw but were an important food source for plains indigenous peoples and are still harvested for jelly. Grizzly bears, black bears, and many birds rely on the berries.

Habitat
Stream banks, prairie edges, and rocky slopes of the Great Plains and Rockies
Diet
Berries eaten by grizzly and black bears, cedar waxwings, and many other birds
How common
Common

Best time to see a Silver Buffaloberry

The best time to see a Silver Buffaloberry is May–August, when about 63% of U.S. sightings happen, based on 1,275 research-grade iNaturalist observations.

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