Viburnum prunifolium L. - Black Haw Viburnum


 

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Viburnum prunifolium - (image 1 of 5)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Caprifoliaceae

Habitat

Moist woods and calcareous springy habitats.

Associates

 

 Distribution

CT west to southern IA, south GA to TX.

Morphology

Shrub or small tree to 8 m. Leaves dull, elliptical, rounded to acute at the tip with a finely serrate margin; petioles wingless or only narrowly winged, glabrous or minutely scurfy. Cyme sessile and 3-4-rayed, 5-10 cm wide. Fruit blue-black, ellipsoid to subglobose, 9-15 mm, calyx tube persistent on the fruit.

Notes

Flowers late April to early June

Wetland indicator: Facultative Upland

The fruit is somewhat sweet and edible. A good shrub for landscaping and quite drought tolerant. Viburnum rufidulum Raf. (Southern Black Haw) is similar but more southern, with winged, densely red-tomentose petioles and shiny leaves.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

 

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

 


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 Michael Hough © 2005