I stumbled across this plant last November and was dually stymied and excited to be confronted with another plant mystery. I don't mean that to come across the wrong way - I, by no means, am capable of identifying every plant in the world. But I do know most of the plants that are popular in the landscape trade. This one was a mystery.
I don't know what I'd do if I were in this profession forty years ago -- I'd have spent hours going through plant books, hoping to stumble across a drawing that was close to what I was looking at. I still do that now, of course, as evidenced by this week's gift list. But the internet and google do make plant detective work that much easier. I simply searched the terms: pink berries clusters opposite leaved shrub. And by the fourth page of results (after many photos of the wonderful Callicarpa) I found Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, or coralberry or Indian currant.
Now, granted, I'm not 100% certain this is the same shrub, but I'm 98%. As you can see the fruits were fattening up in November. By now they should be fully formed. Coralberry is a loose, sprawling shrub and is in the Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family. This plant was rambling along a path and looked very much like it could be related to Lonicera. Anyone recognize it and would like to agree or contest?
Symphoricarpos orbiculatus shares a genus with S. albus or snowberry. This plant is a smaller, lower growing shrub with (as the common name suggests) white fruit. Since the fruit is showy, it makes sense that (like Callicarpa) "carpos" is in the genus name, since that means body or fruit. Symph- is derivative of the Greek word that means "in agreement or concord" (like a symphony playing together, or being sympathetic to a friend) and essentially the genus means "fruit borne together."
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