plants are resilient and studies have proved they are able to tolerate dormant seasonal fires. These fires actually encourage the snowberry plant’s layering reproductive method, as the regeneration of new plants results in an increased number of stems and therefore more opportunities for layering to occur. Common snowberry (S. albus) is an important winter food source for quail, pheasant, and grouse, but is considered poisonous to humans. The berries contain the isoquinoline alkaloid chelidonine, as well as other alkaloids. Ingesting the berries causes mild symptoms of vomiting, dizziness, and slight sedation in children. Cultivation & medicinal uses Common snowberry is a popular ornamental shrub in gardens, grown for its decorative white fruit and wildlife gardening. It is also a useful landscaping plant due to its extreme versatility—tolerating sun, shade, heat, cold, drought, and inundation. Due to their low saponin content, snowberry was a common medicinal treatment used by several North American Indigenous tribes. Snowberry contains low concentrations of saponins, which are anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory. Saponins have also been proven to help with immune function and decrease cholesterol. Saponins can be extremely toxic if consumed in excess, but are typically applied externally or consumed in concentrations too low to inflict damage. The snowberry plant is known to be disinfectant, laxative, diuretic and has the ability to reduce fever. Native Americans found several uses for the snowberry plant. Snowberry leaves were chewed up and used in a poultice to treat external wounds. Its berries were used for a number of applications including as an eyewash, as an antiperspirant, a diarrhea remedy, and was also rubbed on the skin as a treatment for burns, rashes, warts, sores, cuts and other external wounds. Snowberry stems were boiled and their essence was extracted to be used for stomach problems, menstrual pain, and as a soap. Weaker dilutions were used for children meanwhile stronger concentrations were used as a disinfectant to clean open sores. Snowberry bark was also boiled, its essence extracted and used to treat sexually transmitted diseases and urinary dysfunction issues. Its roots were commonly used in the treatment of fever, stomach ache, common cold, and even tuberculosis. References External links Winter ID pictures Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System Notes on poisoning: thin-leaved snowberry Symphoricarpos orbiculatus images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu Caprifoliaceae genera