Pronounciation: Grew-EE-a ox-i-den-TAL-is

Hardiness zones:
Sunset 13-24
USDA 9-11

Landscape Use: Diffuse floral accent, formal or informal hedge, background screen, mesic or oasis landscape design themes, bonsai.

Form & Character: Upright, rounded to scrambling, vigorous yet reserved, mostly boring, yet flowers are intriguing, domesticated and clean, yet a bit wild.

Growth Habit: Evergreen (in Phoenix), woody, perennial shrub, moderate growth rate to 12-feet tall with similar spread.

Foliage/Texture: Medium green, simple and entire leaves to 2-inches long are ovate, alternate, nearly sessile with dentate to crenate (scalloped) margins and pronounced pinnate veination; medium fine texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Double star-shaped flowers, purple, mauve, pink or rarely white in color to 2-inches wide, attract butterflies; fruits are four-lobed drupes, glabrous, reddish brown, strongly attract birds.

Seasonal Color: Diffuse floral accent during late spring.

Temperature: Tolerant so long as water is available, avoid western summer exposures.

Light: Full sun to some filtered western shade.

Soil: Tolerant

Watering: Regular supplemental water is needed especially during the long, hot Phoenix desert summer.

Pruning: Tolerant of almost any 'pruning technique', even the abusive 'whacking and shearing' techniques (LOL) that are inflicted upon most all Phoenix shrubbry by the infamous 'Horticultural clods of Phoenix' (aka 'Hort clods').

Propagation: Extremely easy by seed or asexually by softwood cuttings.

Disease and Pests: None

Additional comments: Crossberry is a seldom-seen, yet quite resilient shrub for non-desert landscape motifs in Phoenix. Its flowers, though diffuse on the plant, are exquisitely interesting. Crossberry in my humble opinion is a wonderful screening plant to help create an intimate social space for people to gather, such as outdoor patios conjoining restaurants and brew pubs.

Ethnobotanical tidbits: Fruits of crossberry are eaten either fresh and raw, fermented to produce traditional beer, or used with goat's milk to make "fruity" milkshakes or yogurts. The crushed bark can be soaked in hot water to treat wounds or make shampoos.