# Canada Buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis)

> A slow, thornless northern shrub that fixes its own nitrogen, with silvery, rust-flecked leaves and bitter red berries that bears and birds eat.

Also called russet buffaloberry, soapberry, soopolallie, rabbitberry. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/canada-buffaloberry/

![Canada buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis) clusters of bright red berries along twigs with oval leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/canada-buffaloberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Bailey Duncan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AShepherdia_canadensis_-_Bailey_Duncan_-_535973277.jpeg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 3 to 8 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 8
- Grows wild in: Rocky ground, sandy barrens and stream banks
- Native range: Alaska and 23 other states, north to North Dakota, south to Arizona and west to Oregon (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming)
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Nitrogen fixing, Drought tolerant, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Canada buffaloberry is a thornless shrub of northern woods, rocky slopes and shores, from Newfoundland to Alaska and south in the mountains to Arizona and New Mexico. In the East it reaches south only to Maine, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania and the Great Lakes states. Its roots carry bacteria that fix nitrogen, so it thrives on poor sand and gravel. Its bright red berries are bitter and soapy, but bears, grouse and other birds eat them. Maine, Illinois and Pennsylvania list it as endangered, Ohio as threatened and Minnesota as a species of special concern, and it has vanished from Indiana. Grow it on a dry, sunny or partly shaded bank, in sand, gravel or rock.

## Size, growth and what to expect

It grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It makes a rounded, open shrub 3 to 8 feet tall and about as wide, rarely taller. Its twigs are covered with rusty brown scales. The leaves are 1.5 to 2.75 inches long, dark green above and silvery beneath with rusty flecks. Seedlings first bear fruit at 4 to 6 years.

Tiny yellowish flowers open on bare twigs in April and May, before the leaves. On female plants, bright red or sometimes yellow berries about a quarter inch across ripen from June into August.

The berries are a major food from midsummer into fall for black and grizzly bears and for grouse. People have long whipped them with water into a froth or pressed them into cakes. It grows wild in open woods, on rocky slopes and riverbanks and on sandy or gravelly shores.

## How to grow Canada Buffaloberry

Canada buffaloberry grows in full sun or part shade. It thrives on poor sand, gravel or rock. It takes limy soil and drought, but it does not like summer heat. Plant it 4 feet from a wall and set plants 5 feet apart. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper, and put the native soil back in. It is hard to raise from seed: the seed is often poor, it sprouts erratically, and it rots easily in a greenhouse. Sow fresh seed outdoors in fall, a quarter inch deep, and mulch the bed over winter. Stored seed needs three to six months damp in the refrigerator before a spring sowing.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. It fixes its own nitrogen, so skip fertilizer.

Plants are male or female, and only females bear fruit, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. It is of special value to native bees. The berries are bitter and soapy from saponin, which thorough cooking breaks down.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Shepherdia canadensis, Walkup 1991](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/shrub/shecan/all.html)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 10: Shepherdia canadensis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=220012484)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Canadian buffaloberry](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/canadian-buffaloberry/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Shepherdia canadensis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SHCA)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Shepherdia canadensis, Canada Buffaloberry](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/canada-buffaloberry)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Buffaloberry, Shepherdia canadensis](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_shca.pdf)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Shepherdia chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Shepherdia.pdf)
- [Natural Resources Canada, Canada's Plant Hardiness Site: Shepherdia canadensis](https://planthardiness.gc.ca/index.php?m=7&speciesid=5372427&lang=en)
- [Oregon State University, Landscape Plants: Shepherdia canadensis](https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/shepherdia-canadensis)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), after Bean: Shepherdia canadensis](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/shepherdia/shepherdia-canadensis/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Shepherdia canadensis, Russet Buffaloberry](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.151717/Shepherdia_canadensis)
- [State rare plant lists: Maine Natural Areas Program 2021 tracking list](https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/rare_plants/2021_tracking_list.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for birds: caterpillars, fruit, mast, nests and winter cover, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-birds/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Canada Buffaloberry, add ?species=canada-buffaloberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=canada-buffaloberry&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Canada Buffaloberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=canada-buffaloberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=canada-buffaloberry
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Canada Buffaloberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=canada-buffaloberry
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Canada Buffaloberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=canada-buffaloberry:3
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Canada Buffaloberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.