Shrub · Caprifoliaceae
Common snowberry
Symphoricarpos albus · includes its varieties and subspecies
Common snowberry is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 505 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common snowberry at a glance
- Native in
- 505 counties, across 33 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Common snowberry is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 505 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 505 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 1 county
- California 35 counties
- Colorado 7 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Idaho 20 counties
- Illinois 9 counties
- Kentucky 3 counties
- Maine 11 counties
- Maryland 2 counties
- Massachusetts 8 counties
- Michigan 41 counties
- Minnesota 40 counties
- Montana 28 counties
- Nebraska 4 counties
- New Hampshire 3 counties
- New Jersey 11 counties
- New Mexico 6 counties
- New York 33 counties
- North Dakota 16 counties
- Ohio 27 counties
- Oregon 32 counties
- Pennsylvania 36 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Dakota 6 counties
- Utah 2 counties
- Vermont 10 counties
- Virginia 11 counties
- Washington 35 counties
- West Virginia 4 counties
- Wisconsin 45 counties
- Wyoming 16 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Rounded
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 12 to 45 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 7.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 18 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- Slight
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Caprifoliaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SYAL
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Symphoricarpos albus (PLANTS symbol SYAL), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources