Viburnum odoratissimum Ker-Gawler

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum odoratissimum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-odoratissimum/). Accessed 2024-10-12.

Genus

Viburnum

Synonyms

V. awabuki K. Koch
V. awafuki Hort.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

apex: (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
bloom: Bluish or greyish waxy substance on leaves or fruits.
corolla: The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
entire: With an unbroken margin.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
inflorescence: Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
perfect: (botanical) All parts present and functional. Usually referring to both androecium and gynoecium of a flower.
venation: Pattern of veins (nerves) especially in a leaf.

References

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Viburnum odoratissimum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-odoratissimum/). Accessed 2024-10-12.

Viburnum odoratissimum var. arboricola laden with fruit at Arboretum Gaston Allard, Angers, France. 7 October 2023. Image Tom Christian.

An evergreen shrub, 10 to 25 ft high, with warted bark, free from down. Leaves leathery, oval to obovate, 3 to 8 in. long, 11⁄2 to 4 in. wide, wedge-shaped at the base, rounded or with a short, blunt tip at the apex, entire or with a few obscure teeth towards the end, glossy green and glabrous above, paler beneath and glabrous except for tufts of down in the vein-axils; stalk 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. long. Flowers pure white, fragrant, all perfect, produced in stalked, broadly pyramidal panicles, 3 to 6 in. high, 21⁄2 to 5 in. wide at the base. Fruits red at first, ultimately black.

Native of northeastern India, southeast continental Asia, Japan, Formosa, the Philippines and the Celebes; introduced about 1818. This shrub grows well and makes a handsome bush in the southwestern counties, but is not very hardy near London – not so hardy even as V. japonicum, with which it was much confused. Its pyramidal inflorescence best distinguishes it from that species, but the venation of the leaf also is different in the veins splitting up and not running out to the margin, a character which enables it to be recognised when out of bloom.

The Japanese race of V. odoratissimum is sometimes separated as a distinct species – V. awabuki – though Rehder considered that it did not even merit varietal status. In V. odoratissimum sens. strict. the corolla-lobes are large, and longer than the tube; in the Japanese plants the corolla-tube is longer, and the lobes relatively shorter.

Flowering branches on plants labelled Viburnum odoratissimum var. arboricola at Chevithorne Barton, Devon, UK. 21 July 2023. Image Tom Christian.

Fruit at various stages of ripeness on Viburnum odoratissimum var. arboricola at Arboretum Gaston Allard, Angers, France. 7 October 2023. Image Tom Christian.

Foliage on Viburnum odoratissimum var. odoratissimum, from a plant at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK (3 August 2012) Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Leaves on Viburnum odoratissimum var. odoratissimum, the lamina with up to 6 secondary veins per side (Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK – 3 August 2012) Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Foliage on Viburnum odoratissimum var. arboricola BSWJ 3052, an introduction from Northern Taiwan (Viburnum collection Lloyd Kenyon, UK – 13 October 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Large leaves with many veins on Viburnum odoratissimum var. arboricola BSWJ 3052, at Crûg Farm, UK – 28 June 2014). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Lamina lower surface with crater-like domatia in the vein axils of Viburnum odoratissimum var. arboricola BSWJ 3052 (Viburnum collection Lloyd Kenyon, UK – 13 October 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Tiny buldges on the lamina upper surface of Viburnum odoratissimum var. arboricola BSWJ 3052, reveal the presence of crater-shaped acarodomatia (Viburnum collection Lloyd Kenyon, UK – 13 October 2012). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

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