Viburnum betulifolium Batal.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Viburnum betulifolium' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-betulifolium/). Accessed 2026-06-18.

Family

Viburnaceae

Genus

Viburnum

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

deltoid: Triangular.
ovate: Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
synonym: (syn.) (botanical) An alternative or former name for a taxon usually considered to be invalid (often given in brackets). Synonyms arise when a taxon has been described more than once (the prior name usually being the one accepted as correct) or if an article of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has been contravened requiring the publishing of a new name. Developments in taxonomic thought may be reflected in an increasing list of synonyms as generic or specific concepts change over time.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Viburnum betulifolium' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-betulifolium/). Accessed 2026-06-18.

In its best forms, Viburnum betulifolium is a fine sight in autumn, when its slender branches are weighed down with the heavy trusses of bright red, translucent berries. Meise Botanic Garden (Acc number 19826306 from Esveld, Boskoop), Belgium. 26 September 2013. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

A deciduous shrub up to 10 or 12 ft, branchlets glabrous, becoming brown or purplish brown. Leaves ovate to diamond-shaped, broadly wedge-shaped at the base, and often entire there, the terminal part more gradually tapered and coarsely toothed; 2 to 4 in. long, 11⁄4 to 3 in. wide; dark green and glabrous above, paler and also glabrous beneath, except for a few simple hairs on the veins, and sometimes tufts in the vein-axils; veins in four to six pairs; leaf-stalk 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long, usually slightly hairy. Cymes 21⁄4 to 4 in. across, the main, and especially the secondary, flower-stalks usually covered with a close, pale brown, stellate down; main branches of corymb seven. Flowers white, 1⁄5 in. across, all perfect; stamens protruded, anthers yellow. Fruits red, roundish, 1⁄4 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 8672.

Native of western and central China; introduced by Wilson, who sent seeds in 1901, 1907 and 1910; it may also have been raised from the seeds collected by Farrer in Kansu in 1914. In its best forms V. betulifolium is a fine sight in autumn, when its slender branches are weighed down with the heavy trusses of bright red, translucent berries. Some plants have been noticed bearing good crops of fruit even though there is allegedly no other viburnum in the vicinity. If these are really self-fertile they would be worth propagating, but in the meantime it is safer to assume that cross-fertilisation is necessary if fruit is to be set, which means that two or more seedlings must be planted near together, or better, plants of two selected and different clones.

V. betulifolium received an Award of Merit in 1936, when shown from Trewithen in Cornwall, where there are two fine plants growing together, and a First Class Certificate in 1957 (exhibited by Sir Frederick Stern, Highdown, Sussex).

A form with smaller flower trusses was formerly accorded species status as V. ovatifolium, now reduced to a synonym. In plants apparently raised from Wilson 240, collected in Hupeh under that name, the leaves are broad-ovate, deltoid-elliptic or roundish elliptic, colouring in the autumn (plants described from Yunnan had relatively narrower leaves).

Viburnum betulifolium is a very attractive shrub when the slender branches are weighed down with the heavy trusses of bright red berries. Here growing in the wild at Peacock Pass, Biluoxueshan, north-west Yunnan, China. 12 October 2019. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Leaves of Viburnum betulifolium are ovate to diamond-shaped, broadly wedge-shaped at the base, and often entire there, the terminal part more gradually tapered and coarsely toothed. Here growing in the wild between Jianchuan and Lijiang, Laojun shan, north-west Yunnan, China. 19 October 2019. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

The leaves of Viburnum betulifolium are pale and glabrous beneath, except for a few simple hairs on the veins, and sometimes tufts in the vein-axils. Laojun shan, north-west Yunnan, China. 19 October 2019. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

It's easy enough to understand why Viburnum betulifolium received an Award of Merit in 1936. Meise Botanic Garden (Acc number 19826306 from Esveld, Boskoop), Belgium. 3 July 2012. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Viburnum betulifolium is a large, arching/sprawling multistemmed shrub (Valley Gardens, Windsor Great Park, UK; 24 June 2024). Image Julian Sutton.

Although primarily planted for the colourful fruit, Viburnum betulifolium is also attractive in flower. The inflorescences strikingly resemble small elderflowers (Sambucus nigra) and have the same characteristic smell (Valley Gardens, Windsor Great Park, UK; 24 June 2024). Image Julian Sutton.

Glabrous branchlet on Viburnum betulifolium (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 11 August 2010). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Lamina base on Viburnum betulifolium with tiny circular glands (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 11 August 2010). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Some forms of Viburnum betulifolium only set a small amount of fruit. Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (17 October 2004). Image © Jan De Langhe.

Viburnum betulifolium foliage with a choice of leaf variability, from a plant at Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (11 August 2010). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

This group planting of three old Viburnum betulifolium at RHS Garden Wisley fruit very reliably each year, the branches arching under the weight of their heavy crop (October 2021). Presumably seed-raised originally, different clones growing in close proximity like this guarantees good cross-fertilisation. Image Jack Aldridge.

Viburnum betulifolium is highly ornamental in fruit, laden with masses of redcurrant-like bunches which remain effective throughout winter, left alone by birds. RHS Garden Wisley, UK (October 2021). Image Jack Aldridge.