Foothills, montane, subalpine. Moist woodland hillsides. Spring.
Haviland Lake, June 8, 2007.

This Buffaloberry is fairly common at the bottom of hillsides in the mountains but its color is not as distinctive as Shepherdia argentea, shown above, and therefore it is not noticed very often.  It grows to about six feet tall, less than half the size of S. argentea.  All three Shepherdia shown on web site flower in very early spring and put on an abundance of berries.  

In 1753 Linnaeus named this species Hippophae canadensis; it was given its present name in 1818 by Thomas Nuttall.

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Moist woodland hillsides. Spring.
Ryman Creek Trail, June 13, 2007.
Roaring Fork Road, August 16, 2007.

The top of S. canadensis leaves is distinctly different from the bottom.  Some authorities indicate that the upper surface is glabrous (smooth), but the photos at left and below indicate that at least some shrubs are densely hairy with gorgeous starburst (stellate) hairs.  The underside of leaves is covered with a cinnamon scale-like growth.  The shiny green of early spring leaf growth mellows to a darker green and eventually leaves darken even more as berries ripen red.