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Viburnum davidii Franch.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum davidii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-davidii/). Accessed 2024-10-07.

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
clone
Organism arising via vegetative or asexual reproduction.
androdioecious
With only male or only hermaphrodite flowers on individual plants.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.

References

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum davidii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-davidii/). Accessed 2024-10-07.

Viburnum davidii

Viburnum davidii.

An evergreen shrub of apparently low, compact habit, and about 3 to 5 ft high; young branches warted. Leaves leathery, narrowly oval or slightly obovate, tapered at the base, more slenderly so at the apex; 2 to 6 in. long, 1 to 21⁄2 in. wide; strongly and conspicuously three-veined, often obscurely or shallowly toothed near the apex, dark green above, pale below, glabrous on both surfaces except for small tufts of down in the vein-axils beneath; stalk 1⁄4 to 1 in. long. Flowers dull white, 1⁄8 in. wide, densely crowded in stalked stiff cymes, 2 to 3 in. across. Fruits blue, 1⁄4 in. long, narrow oval. Bot. Mag., t. 8980.

Whether or not V. davidii is actually dioecious, it is so in effect, but many nurserymen now offer both ‘male’ and ‘female’ plants, and both must be grown if the beautiful fruits are to be seen. It received an Award of Merit for these in 1971.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The first part of the second paragraph (page 694) was inadvertently omitted. V. davidii is a native of western China, and was introduced by Wilson for Messrs Veitch in 1904.

V. ‘Jermyns Globe’. – This is the type-clone of V. × globosum, described by Allen Coombes in The Plantsman, Vol. 2(1), pp. 63–4. A plant in the Hillier Arboretum is 5 ft high (1986).

Viburnum davidii

Sometimes derided as a 'car park plant' Viburnum davidii is really a very handsome and useful evergreen foliage plant (Newby Hall, North Yorkshire, UK, July 2021). Image John Grimshaw.

Viburnum davidii

Strong venation, large size and a glossy sheen make the foliage of Viburnum davidii extremely attractive. Image John Grimshaw.

Viburnum davidii

Viburnum davidii Ogisu 95071, leaves, with lamina rather broadly elliptic to ovate (Roy Lancaster's Garden, UK – 10 April 2016). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Viburnum davidii

Viburnum Ogisu 95071, with lamina lower surface basal vein axils pubescent (Roy Lancaster's Garden, UK – 10 April 2016). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Viburnum davidii

Foliage on Viburnum davidii at Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (30 March 2010). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Viburnum davidii

Viburnum davidii leaves, with the lamina elliptic to obovate, strongly three-veined and the apical part often minutely serrate at margin (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 30 March 2010). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Viburnum davidii

A Viburnum davidii hedge in a front garden at Eeklo, Belgium (19 January 2020). Image © Jan De Langhe.

V cinnamomifolium Rehd

This is very similar to V. davidii, with the same conspicuously three-veined leaves, but it is a bigger shrub, or sometimes a tree 20 ft high; its inflorescence is much larger and more lax, its almost entire leaves are not so thick, and its fruits smaller. There is a plant about 15 ft high and wide on a garden wall at Borde Hill in Sussex, which is perfectly hardy. Wilson discovered this species on Mt Omei in W. Szechwan.

Viburnum davidii V cinnamomifolium

The old plant of Viburnum cinnamomifolium at Borde Hill, West Sussex, UK, 6 m tall by 2010. Image Owen Johnson.

Viburnum davidii V cinnamomifolium

Foliage and immature infructescence on Viburnum cinnamomifolium SICH 809, from a plant at the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, Canada (21 July 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Viburnum davidii V cinnamomifolium

Leaves on Viburnum cinnamomifolium SICH 809, with the lamina elliptic to obovate, thinner and often broader compaired to V.davidii (UBC Botanical Garden, Canada (21 July 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

V 'Jermyns Globe'

A seedling of V. davidii of which the other parent was probably V. calvum. Although the original plant is not as globular in habit now as when it was first named, it is of low, compact and roundish habit. The foliage is not unlike that of V. tinus.

Viburnum davidii V 'Jermyns Globe'

Viburnum × globosum 'Jermyns Globe' in bloom at Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (5 May 2005). Image © Jan De Langhe.

Viburnum davidii V 'Jermyns Globe'

The small flowers on Viburnum × globosum 'Jermyns Globe' (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 5 May 2005). Image © Jan De Langhe.

Viburnum davidii V 'Jermyns Globe'

Foliage on Viburnum × globosum 'Jermyns Globe' (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 5 May 2005). Image © Jan De Langhe.

Viburnum davidii V 'Jermyns Globe'

The leaves of Viburnum × globosum 'Jermyns Globe' are three-veined in part of the foliage (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 5 May 2005). Image © Jan De Langhe.

Viburnum davidii V 'Jermyns Globe'

Blue fruits on Viburnum × globosum 'Jermyns Globe' (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 5 May 2005). Image © Jan De Langhe.

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