Authors: Nutt.  

Botanical Description

Large mat-forming of loose habit, to 30cm or more in height and l-2 m in spread. Leaves deciduous, obovate, 2-6cm long, thin-textured and matt-green. Flowers five-petalled, 6mm across, greenish-purple, singly or in threes. Fruits three-lobed, l-2cm wide, crimson, covered with small prickle-like tubercles, aril of seeds scarlet. Eastern North America, Ontario to Tennessee, in dry to damp woods and in scrub and more or less open slopes.