Leaf: Alternate, simple, deciduous, elliptical, ovate, or obovate, 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches long, margins finely toothed; pale green and slightly glaucous above and paler below, red to purple in the fall.
Flower: Monoecious; perfect. Small (1/4 inch long); solitary; nodding; pinkish; corolla fused and nearly round; borne singly in leaf axils; appear in mid-spring.
Fruit: Small (1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter) purple to black berries, almost without bloom; ripen in late summer, delicious.
Twig: Young branches are yellow-green and somewhat angled; older branches have gray, shedding bark.
Bark: Gray and shreddy.
Form: An upright, densely branched deciduous shrub commonly growing 3 to 6 feet tall. |
|