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Viburnum dentatum L.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum dentatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-dentatum/). Accessed 2026-05-18.

Family

  • Viburnaceae

Genus

Common Names

  • Southern Arrow-wood

Synonyms

  • Viburnum venosum var. canbyi Rehder
  • Viburnum pubescens var. canbyi S.F.Blake
  • Viburnum pubescens (Ait.) Purs
  • Viburnum dentatum var. pubescens Aiton

Glossary

variety
(var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum dentatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-dentatum/). Accessed 2026-05-18.

Editorial Note

One of the synonyms given by Bean - V. venosum Britt. - refers to a separate species. Likewise, one of the synonyms given for V. dentatum var. pubescens Aiton - V. nervosum Britt. - also seems to be a lapse (perhaps related).

 

A shrub to about 10 or 15 ft in the wild, with a close grey or brownish bark; branchlets usually downy, sometimes glabrous or almost so. Leaves of thin texture, ovate to broadly so or roundish, 2 to 412 in. long, 1 to 4 in. wide, sometimes even broader than long, shortly acuminate at the apex, rounded or slightly cordate at the base, almost glabrous above, sparsely stellate-downy beneath; veins five to eleven on each side, straight, impressed above and prominent beneath; marginal teeth usually large and triangular; petiole slender, to 1 in. long, clad with stiff down, usually without stipules. Flowers white, perfect and regular, about 16 in. wide, borne around midsummer. Corymbs up to 412 in. wide, on peduncles 112 to 212 in. long, its branches downy or Corymbs up to 412 in. wide, on peduncles 112 to 212 in. long, its branches downy or sometimes glabrous. Fruits blue-black, roundish oval, up to 38 in. long; stone with a narrow and deep groove on one side.

Native of eastern N. America, mostly south of New York; described by Linnaeus from a specimen collected in Virginia and cultivated since the 18th century.

Var. pubescens Aiton, a form with thicker-textured leaves, and branchlets and undersides of leaves densely downy, is no longer recognised as a distinct botanical variety – V. dentatum ‘Longifolium’ is a cultivated form of this with leaves longer than wide (syn. V. longifolium Lodd. ex K.Koch).