Snowberry

[f. SNOW sb.¹ Cf. G. schneebeere (Nemnich)] A name given to various plants or shrubs bearing white berries, or to the fruit of these.

  When denoting the plant or shrub, freq. used attrib. with bush (or tree). In the earliest example the identification is doubtful:—1760 J. Lee, Introd. Bot. App. 317 Snowberry-bush, Lonicera.

  1.  A rubiaceous shrub (Chiococca racemosa), native to the West Indies and Florida, cultivated as a greenhouse or hothouse plant.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 678. Hothouse Plants…. Snow-berry.

1839.  R. Sweet, Hothouse & Greenh. Man. (ed. 6), 54. Chiococca racemosa or Snow-berry-bush, thrives well in a mixture of loam and peat.

1864.  Grisebach, Flora Brit. W. Ind., 787/2. Snowberry: Chiococca racemosa.

  2.  A caprifoliaceous shrub (Symphoricarpus racemosus), native to North America and Mexico, commonly grown in gardens and shrubberies.

  (a)  1821.  W. P. C. Barton, Flora N. Amer., I. 69. The late Governor Lewis first brought to this city seeds of the snow-berry bush.

1872.  Christina Rossetti, Sing Song, 10. A song-singing thrush, Dead at the foot of a snowberry bush.

1894.  Mrs. H. Ward, Marcella, I. 16. The branches of a snowberry tree.

  (b.)  1821.  W. P. C. Barton, Flora N. Amer., I. 69. Snow-berry is a very ornamental shrub.

1857.  Henfrey, Bot., 313. The berries … of Symphoricarpus, the Snow-berry of our shrubberies, appear to be harmless.

1882.  Garden, 25 Feb., 134/1. The Snowberry … stands almost alone as the representative of the white fruited section.

  b.  The fruit of this shrub.

1837.  Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., II. 245. Smart mulatto girls, with snow-berries in their hair.

1861.  Mrs. Stowe, Pearl Orr’s Isl., i. 1. The cheek was white and bloodless as a snowberry.

  3.  U.S. a. Creeping snowberry, a trailing evergreen plant (Chiogenes hispidula) common in bogs and woods.

1856.  A. Gray, Man. Bot. (1859), 250. Chiógenes.… Creeping Snowberry.

1857.  Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 125. Creeping snowberry, painted trillium.

1872.  De Vere, Americanisms, 404. The queen of them all is said to be the lovely, creeping snowberry (Chiogenes hispidula).

  b.  The wintergreen, checkerberry or tea-berry.

1866.  Chambers’s Encycl., VIII. 789/2. The name Snowberry is also given to Gaultheria serpyllifolia, a native of the bogs of North America.

  4.  Austr. The wax-cluster, Gaultheria hispida.

1880.  Mrs. C. Meredith, Tasmanian Friends & Foes, 11. The ‘Snow-berry’ or ‘Wax cluster’ is also called native Arbutus.