Viburnum nudum L.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum nudum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-nudum/). Accessed 2025-01-23.

Genus

Viburnum

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

entire: With an unbroken margin.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
ovate: Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
perfect: (botanical) All parts present and functional. Usually referring to both androecium and gynoecium of a flower.

References

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum nudum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-nudum/). Accessed 2025-01-23.

Foliage and ripening fruit on Viburnum nudum at Bulk Nursery, Boskoop, the Netherlands. 24 September 2023. Image Tom Christian.

A deciduous shrub up to 10 ft high; young shoots slightly scurfy and downy. Leaves oval, ovate or lance-shaped, 2 to 41⁄2 in. long, 1 to 21⁄4 in. wide, minutely and irregularly toothed to almost entire, dark glossy green and glabrous above, paler, somewhat scurfy or glabrous beneath; stalk 1⁄4 to 5⁄8 in. long. Flowers yellowish white, uniform and perfect, 1⁄5 in. across, produced in early June on cymes 2 to 4 in. wide; the main-stalk as long or longer than the branched flowering portion. Fruits 1⁄3 in. long, oval, blue-black.

Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1752. This viburnum is closely akin to V. cassinoides, under which species the distinctions between the two are explained. It is a handsome, shiny-leaved shrub which flowers freely. It has a more southern distribution than V. cassinoides, and does not, apparently, reach into Canada.

Fruits of Viburnum nudum are eaten by wildlife in its native habitat in North America. Arnold Arboretum (565–2003-B), Boston, United States. 5 October 2009. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Flowers of Viburnum nudum are followed by clusters of ovoid berries that change colour as they ripen, from light pink to deep pink, then blue to purplish-black. Arnold Arboretum (565–2003-B), Boston, United States. 5 October 2009. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Viburnum nudum is native to low woods, swamps and bogs in the eastern and southeastern United States, from Connecticut south to Florida and Louisiana. Meise Botanic Garden (20002035–53 from Virginia), Belgium. 11 October 2008. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

The berries of Viburnum nudum are highly acidic but edible for humans. Meise Botanic Garden (20002035–53 from Virginia, United States), Belgium. 1 November 2010. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Fruits of Viburnum nudum became purplish-black when ripe. Meise Botanic Garden (20002035–53 from Virginia, United States), Belgium. 16 November 2014. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Fertile branchlet on Viburnum nudum, from a plant at Arboretum Les Arbres du Monde au Huelgoat, France (16 August 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Leaves on Viburnum nudum, with the lamina +/- narrowly elliptic (Arboretum Les Arbres du Monde au Huelgoat, France – 16 August 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Rusty dotted young growth on Viburnum nudum, (Arboretum Les Arbres du Monde au Huelgoat, France – 16 August 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

The lamina lower surface on Viburnum nudum is minutely dotted (Arboretum Les Arbres du Monde au Huelgoat, France – 16 August 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

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