Buffaloberry (Bundle of 5)

Overview

An extremely drought-tolerant and cold-hardy shrub, the fruits have a nice lemony, sweet/tart taste and have recently earned the label of a "superfruit."

Impressive Size in Montana

It reaches around 12–15 feet in Missoula, Kalispell, Billings, and other places we’ve seen it growing across Montana.

Nitrogen-Fixing Bonus

This non-leguminous, nitrogen-fixing shrub is hardy down to Zone 2.

Pollination

Buffaloberry is dioecious, meaning individual plants are either male or female. The USDA plant guide says the flowers are insect pollinated, most commonly by honey bees and bumble bees. Either way, having at least one male nearby as a pollenizer is essential for fruit production, and one male will serve several females.

These plants are grown from seed, which means there is no fixed male-to-female ratio in any given bundle. However, in large populations, seed-grown buffaloberry naturally averages about 50% male and 50% female.

Because the sex of seedlings cannot be determined until they flower, the ratio within a bundle of five is random. Statistically, each seedling has a 50% chance of being male and a 50% chance of being female.

To put the odds in practical terms:
The probability that all five seedlings are female is (0.5)⁵, or 3.125%.
That means the probability that a bundle of five contains at least one male is 96.875%.

In real-world terms, almost every bundle of five will include a male, making this an effective and practical way to establish a fruiting planting from seedlings.

Summary:
Seedling ratio: roughly 50/50 male–female
Odds your bundle of five includes at least one male: ~97%

Current Plant Size

Plants are currently 2-3 ft tall