The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Shepherdia canadensis
Also called Soapberry, Canada Buffaloberry, Canadian Buffalo Berry, Bitterberry, Low Buffaloberry, Rabbitberry, Soopolallie
Russet buffaloberry is a deciduous, nitrogen-fixing shrub native to cold northern and western North America, grown for its tart red berries. It is dioecious, so you need both a male and a female plant to get fruit.
Shepherdia canadensis, commonly called Canada buffaloberry, russet buffaloberry, soopolallie, soapberry, or foamberry (Ktunaxa: kupaʔtiⱡ) is one of a small number of shrubs of the genus Shepherdia that bears edible berries.
The species is widespread in all of Canada, except in Prince Edward Island, and in the western and northern United States, including Alaska and Idaho.
The fruit is edible, but the saponin chemicals it contains may cause gastrointestinal irritation if large quantities are consumed. Unrelated plants in the genus Sapindus, also commonly denominated "soapberry", produce toxic saponins.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Shepherdia canadensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
