I have a lot of these bushes in my garden, and as a child I used to love stepping on them because this used to create a cracking sound.

Symphoricarpos leaves are 1.5 cm long, rounded, entire or with one or two lobes at the base. The flowers are small, greenish-white to pink, in small clusters of 5 to 15 together in most species, solitary or in pairs. The fruit is conspicuous, 1-2 cm in diameter, soft, varying from white to pink. When the white berries are broken open, the interior looks like fine, sparkling granular snow. The flesh is spongy and contains two 2-5 mm long, whitish stone seeds. The seeds, which contain endosperm and a small embryo, are egg-shaped and more or less flattened. They have a very tough, hard, impermeable covering, and so are very hard to germinate and may lie dormant for up to ten years.