Shepherdia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Orthokaryota
Cladus: Neokaryota
Cladus: Photokaryota
Cladus: Diaphoretickes
Cladus: CAM
Regnum*: Archaeplastida
Regnum: Plantae
Regnum*: Viridiplantae
Cladus: Streptophyta
Cladus: Phragmoplastophyta
Cladus: Embryophyta
Cladus: Polysporangiophyta
Divisio*: Tracheophyta
Cladus: Eutracheophyta
Cladus: Euphyllophytina
Cladus: Megaphylla
Cladus: Radiatopses
Cladus: Lignophyta
Cladus: Metalignophyta
Diviso*: Spermatophyta
Classis*: Angiospermae
Cladus: Mesangiospermae
Cladus: Eudicota
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Rosales

Familia: Elaeagnaceae
Genus: Shepherdia
Species: S. argentea – S. canadensis – S. rotundifolia
Name

Shepherdia Nutt. (1818), nom. cons.

Type species: S. canadensis (L.) Nutt.

Synonyms

Homotypic
Lepargyrea Raf., Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 4: 195. 1819.

References
Primary references

Nuttall, T. 1818. The genera of North American plants, and a catalogue of the species, to the year 1817. Volume 1. viii + 312 pp, D. Heartt, Philadelphia. BHL Reference page. : 2: 240–241.

Links

Hassler, M. 2020. Shepherdia. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2020. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Apr 08. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Shepherdia in Kew Science Plants of the World Online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Apr 08. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Shepherdia. Published online. Accessed: Apr 08 2020. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2020. Shepherdia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 08 Apr 2020. Reference page.

USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Shepherdia in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 09-Oct-10.

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Büffelbeeren
English: Buffaloberries
suomi: Puhvelinmarjat

Shepherdia, commonly called buffaloberry[1] or bullberry, is a genus of small shrubs in the Elaeagnaceae family. The plants are native to northern and western North America.[2] They are non-legume nitrogen fixers.

Shepherdia is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate plants.[3]
Species

The genus has three living species:

Shepherdia argentea - silver buffaloberry[4]
Shepherdia canadensis - Canada buffaloberry
Shepherdia rotundifolia - roundleaf buffaloberry, endemic to southern Utah and northern Arizona

An additional extinct species is also placed in the genus:

†Shepherdia weaveri (Hollick) LaMotte - Paleocene/Eocene Kachemak Bay, Alaska[5]

Fruit

The berry is recognizable by being a dark shade of red, with little white dots on them. They are rough to the touch, and are found on both trees and shrubs.
Wildlife

The plants have rather bitter-tasting berries. The fruit are often eaten by bears, which by legend, prefer the berries to maintain fat stores during hibernation.[6]

Buffaloberries are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Ectropis crepuscularia (recorded from S. canadensis) and Coleophora elaeagnisella.
As food

Buffaloberries are sour and can be made into jam, pie, jelly, syrup, soups, or prepared like cranberry sauce with sugar added.[6]
References

NRCS. "Shepherdia". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 11 November 2015.
"Shepherdia Nutt". USDA PLANTS.
Renner, Susanne S. (2014). "The relative and absolute frequencies of angiosperm sexual systems: dioecy, monoecy, gynodioecy, and an updated online database". American Journal of Botany. 101 (10): 1588–1596. doi:10.3732/ajb.1400196. PMID 25326608.
"Silver buffaloberry" (PDF).
LaMotte, R.S. (1952). Catalogue of the Cenozoic plants of North America through 1950. Geological Society of America Memoirs. Vol. 51. Geological Society of America. doi:10.1130/MEM51.
Elias, Professor, Thomas S. (1983). Edible Wild Plants A North American Field Guide (Digitized online by Google books). Peter A. Dykeman. Cengage Learning. pp. 9–28, 258. ISBN 0-442-22254-8. Retrieved 2009-01-25.