Shepherdia canadensis (L.) Nutt.
 
FamilyElaeagnaceae — APG family: Elaeagnaceae
SynonymsLepargyraea canadensis (L.) Greene, Hippophae canadensis L., Elaeagnus canadensis (L.) Nels.
Common namesoapberry
DescriptionShrub with brownish-scurfy young twigs and elliptic, ovate to lanceolate, op- posite leaves, green above, white-scurfy and with lepidote, rushy scales beneath; flowers sessile, in axis of branches, of 2 kinds—staminate brownish, with 4-parted calyx and 8 stamens, and pistillate, with urceolate, 4-cleft calyx, becoming berrylike in fruit; fruit yellowish-red, elliptical.
EcologyWoods, gravel bars, to at least 1,200 meters. Described from Canada.
Taxonomy
notes
(See color section.)
UsesThe fruit contains saponine. It is eaten mixed with sugar and water and beaten frothy. The taste is bitter.
Hultén's Flora About

This is a digital representation of Eric Hultén’s ‘Flora of Alaska and Neighboring Territories: A Manual of the Vascular Plants’, which was published by Stanford University Press in 1968. The book was digitized by C. Webb (at UAMN) as part of the Flora of Alaska project, with funding by the US NSF (Grant 1759964 to Ickert-Bond & Webb), and with permission of Stanford University Press. Data and images © 1968 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. Univ. Usage licence: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. NB: You may find OCR errors; please refer to the hard-copy if in doubt.