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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 2026-10-16.

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 2026-10-16.

Viburnum dentatum

Leaves of Viburnum dentatum are of a thin texture, ovate to broadly so or roundish, sometimes broader than long, short acuminate at the apex. Meise Botanic Garden (20021469–87 from Maine, United States), Belgium. 19 August 2014. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

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 41⁄2 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 1⁄6 in. wide, borne around midsummer. Corymbs up to 41⁄2 in. wide, on peduncles 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. long, its branches downy or Corymbs up to 41⁄2 in. wide, on peduncles 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. long, its branches downy or sometimes glabrous. Fruits blue-black, roundish oval, up to 3⁄8 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).

Viburnum dentatum

Viburnum dentatum is native to eastern North America and has been cultivated in Europe since the 18th century. Meise Botanic Garden (20021469–87 from Maine, United States), Belgium. 19 August 2014. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Viburnum dentatum

Foliage on Viburnum dentatum, the variably shaped leaves have a long petiole and a coarsely triangular-dentate margin (Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK – 3 August 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

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