Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.

Habitat: Forest openings and edge, thickets, and marshes from low elevations to the subalpine.

Flowers: April-August

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, hummingbirds

Deciduous, erect shrubs 0.5-4 m. tall, with gray, shaggy bark, the young twigs quadrangular.

Leaves opposite, short-petiolate, elliptic-oblong to elliptic-ovate, pointed, 5-14 cm. long and 2-8 cm. wide, usually glabrous above and stiff-hairy below.

Peduncles axillary with two pairs of conspicuous bracts at the summit, broad and green or purple-tinged, becoming purplish-red and spreading in fruit; flowers paired, closely subtended by the bracts; corolla yellow, sometimes tinged with red, glandular-pubescent, 1-2 cm. long, shortly and sub-equally lobed, with a short, thick spur at the base; stamens 5, ovary 3-celled, inferior.

Fruit a shiny, black, globose berry 1 cm. thick.