Viburnum macrocephalum
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Viburnum macrocephalum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Infraspecifics
Other taxa in genus
- Viburnum acerifolium
- Viburnum atrocyaneum
- Viburnum betulifolium
- Viburnum × bodnantense
- Viburnum buddleifolium
- Viburnum burejaeticum
- Viburnum × burkwoodii
- Viburnum × carlcephalum
- Viburnum carlesii
- Viburnum cassinoides
- Viburnum cinnamomifolium
- Viburnum cotinifolium
- Viburnum cylindricum
- Viburnum dasyanthum
- Viburnum davidii
- Viburnum deamii
- Viburnum dentatum
- Viburnum dilatatum
- Viburnum edule
- Viburnum erosum
- Viburnum erubescens
- Viburnum farreri
- Viburnum foetidum
- Viburnum 'Fulbrook'
- Viburnum furcatum
- Viburnum × globosum
- Viburnum grandiflorum
- Viburnum harryanum
- Viburnum henryi
- Viburnum × hillieri
- Viburnum hupehense
- Viburnum japonicum
- Viburnum 'Juddii'
- Viburnum kansuense
- Viburnum lantana
- Viburnum lantanoides
- Viburnum lentago
- Viburnum lobophyllum
- Viburnum molle
- Viburnum mullaha
- Viburnum nudum
- Viburnum odoratissimum
- Viburnum 'Oneida'
- Viburnum opulus
- Viburnum orientale
- Viburnum parvifolium
- Viburnum phlebotrichum
- Viburnum plicatum
- Viburnum plicatum cultivars
- Viburnum 'Pragense'
- Viburnum propinquum
- Viburnum prunifolium
- Viburnum rafinesqueanum
- Viburnum recognitum
- Viburnum × rhytidocarpum
- Viburnum × rhytidophylloides
- Viburnum rhytidophyllum
- Viburnum rufidulum
- Viburnum rugosum
- Viburnum sargentii
- Viburnum schensianum
- Viburnum setigerum
- Viburnum sieboldii
- Viburnum suspensum
- Viburnum sympodiale
- Viburnum tinus
- Viburnum treleasei
- Viburnum trilobum
- Viburnum utile
- Viburnum veitchii
- Viburnum wrightii
Editorial Note
The status of infraspecific taxa for this species is complicated by the exclusively cultivated status of f. macrocephalum - on which grounds POWO (12/5/2025), for example, does not accept the distinction between f. macrocephalum and f. keteleeri. We follow Flora of China (2025) in continuing to recognise the horticulturally valuable distinction.
f. keeteleri (Carrière) Rehder
Synonyms
Viburnum keteleeri Carrière
Viburnum arborescens Hemsley
This is the normal wild form of V. macrocephalum, a native of China, and has only the marginal flowers of the showy, sterile kind, the small perfect ones filling the centre of the cyme, which is 3 to 5 in. across, and comparatively flat. It is somewhat hardier than the wholly sterile plant (f. macrocephalum), but is now uncommon in gardens.
f. macrocephalum
Synonyms
Viburnum macrocephalum 'Sterile'
A deciduous or partially evergreen shrub up to 12 or 20 ft high, forming a large rounded bush, the young shoots covered with a close scurf which, seen under the lens, is found to be minute stellate down. Leaves ovate, occasionally oval or oblong, rounded at the base, rounded or pointed at the apex, 2 to 4 in. long, 11⁄4 to 21⁄2 in. wide, dull green, and with scattered hairs above, covered with stellate down beneath; stalk 1⁄3 to 3⁄4 in. long. Flowers pure white, all sterile, 1 to 11⁄4 in. across, forming a huge, globular truss 3 to 6 in. wide opening in May.
This is Fortune’s type and was introduced by him from China in 1844. Being perfectly sterile, it is, of course, not found in the wild, being purely a garden plant, once distinguished as V. macrocephalum sterile. It is the most striking, if not the most beautiful of viburnums, its truss exceeding in bulk that of any other species. Near London, it lives in a sheltered spot in the open, but is better on a wall, where a well grown plant makes a very fine display in May. Fortune saw it 20 ft high on the island of Chusan.
