Snowberry is an evergreen vine or a large, clambering, shrub with rich green leaves, small fragrant flowers and abundant clusters of sparkling white fruits. It is native to tropical America and it is a common element of the coastal thickets and tropical forests of South Florida and the Florida Keys. Snowberry has pairs of evergreen leaves on 4-angled branches and it forms a large mound or a vine that climbs high into other vegetation. Leaves bright green, thin, 1-3 inches long. Small, bell-shaped flowers are in long, horizontal clusters that grow from the leaf axils. The flowers are yellow or white and they have 5 recurved petals. Fruits are subglobose, berry-like drupes and are in small clusters. They are snow-white, hence the name. It flowers and produces fruits throughout the year. Typically 6-10 feet or more in height. Usually as broad as tall or broader. Moderate to fast growth rate. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its evergreen foliage and white fruits. Snowberrry can be very beautiful in bloom and even more so in fruit. The fruits attract birds. It is used in espalier and grown on trellises. The roots have several uses in herbal medicine. The plant was sold commercially in Europe and the United States for medicinal purposes at one time.

Growing Instructions

1. Put a mixture of potting soil and sand or perlite into a pot.
2. Sow the seeds on the surface of the soil.
3. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil. 
4. Water the seeds.
5. Place the pots in an area in light shade and keep moist. 
6. When the plants are a few inches tall, they can be transplanted.