Silver buffaloberry is a native, deciduous, large, upright to mounding, suckering shrub that grows about 6 to 12 feet tall and nearly as wide. Spring flowers are yellow and not considered ornamental, but they are followed by clusters of berries that begin green, but ripen in August, turning yellow, orange, or bright red. Leaves are long, narrow, and silvery green with a prominent white midrib. Bark is a warm brown and older bark is furrowed. Due to its size and sucking habit, use it for erosion control, soil stabilization, or in larger naturally-styled landscapes. Well suited to riparian corridor areas. A Utah native.
Grow in full sun and well drained soil. Tolerates a range of soil types, and withstands moist or dry soils and is pH adaptive, growing in soils up to 8.0. It is frequently confused with Russian Olive, an invasive species: buffalo berry flowers occur in clusters (russian olive's flowers occur along the stems length); buffaloberry's fruit is green, turning yellow to red (russian olive's fruit is green to buff); buffaloberry leaves and branches are opposite (russian olive's leaves and branches are alternate). Fruit is edible, though tart until a couple of frosts, but robins, sparrows, grosbeaks and others won't wait that long. If you are pruning or working around it, be mindful of the thorns.