Fruit appear around mid-summer and are bright red in color, oval-to-egg shaped, and about 0.4” long. The inner wood and roots are bright yellow in color.
Shrubs usually have multiple stems and can be upright or spreading and range from 1 to over 5’ in width. Leaves are alternately arranged in clusters, are 0.5 – 1.5” long, and oval-to-spoon shaped with smooth margins. L
Leaf color can be red, purple, dark green or yellow-green and differs substantially between varieties and with light availability.
Twigs and young branches are reddish brown, angular and grooved, and have single needle-like 0.3 – 0.5” long spines beneath each leaf cluster.
The inner wood and roots are bright yellow in color.
can increase soil nitrogen and carbon cycling rates while increasing soil alkalinity in invaded ecosystems, further impacting native plant communities
contributes to a humid micro-climate near the ground, which increases tick feeding activity and overall survival leading to notably larger populations.