Cranberry bush is a vase-shaped to mounded caney shrub with large, maple-shaped leaves and big dripping clusters of brilliant red fruits that develop in late summer. The tart berries are good in jellies and spreads. The blooms on this shrub are white lace capped flowers that appear in mid-Spring, followed by edible fruit in the Fall. This is a very fast growing shrubs producing suckers that will grow up to six feet or more per season and begin to branch and flower in their second year. It is native to damp thickets, low woods and swamps.