Addisonia 59 



(Plate 110) 



VIBURNUM PRUNIFOLIUM 

 Black Haw 



Family Caprifoliaceae;. Honeysuckle; Family 



Native of the eastern and central United States 



Viburnum prunifolium L. Sp. PI. 268. 1753. 



A densely branched large shrub or small tree, occasionally reaching 

 a height of thirty feet and a trunk diameter of one foot. The young 

 bark is smoothish and of a purple-brown color, but that of the older 

 trunks becomes blackish, much fissured and somewhat scaly; 

 internally, it is rusty brown and the inner surface is roughish with 

 small oblique bast bundles. That of the root is wholly brown and 

 is soft-scaly on the outer surface. It is bitter and of a peculiar 

 strong odor, slightly resembling that of valerian. The wood is hard, 

 tough and strong. The branches, like the leaves, are opposite and, 

 when young, are apt to be thornlike. The leaves, borne on short, 

 slender, reddish petioles, and one to three inches long, are approxi- 

 mately oval in form, with a rounded or shghtly produced base and 

 an obtuse, or occasionally very slightly pointed summit; the margin 

 is very finely toothed and the venation is reddish. The white 

 flowers are borne in nearly flat compound cymes, two to four and a 

 half inches broad, on very short stems, the flowers also on short 

 stems; in furit, the branches of the cyme elongate considerably. 

 The corolla is wheel-shaped, about one third of an inch broad and 

 deeply 5-lobed, and bears a stamen of about its own length in each 

 sinus. The fruits are about one third of an inch long and about 

 two thirds as broad, oval and compressed, and are tipped with the 

 remains of the calyx. When ripe, they are black, with a thin 

 coating of whitish wax, giving them a bluish-black appearance; 

 each contains a single flat stone, slightly convex on one side. 



The black haw is one of the most ornamental of our wild shrubs, 

 blooming in May, when it beautifies the fence rows and hedges and 

 the borders of woodlands with its profuse masses of snowy-white 

 flowers. It is not infrequently planted for ornament. The fruits 

 ripen in the late fall, when they are much eaten by children. They 

 are agreeably sweet after being acted upon by frost, although al- 

 ways rather dry. Under primitive conditions, they were a favorite 

 fruit of bears. The bark, especially that of the root, is a much- 

 used medicine, prized by practical physicians for its anti-spasmodic 

 properties. It has long been official in the United States Phar- 

 macopoeia. 



H. H. RusBY. 



Expi,ANATiON OP Plate. Fig. l. — Fruiting branch. Fig. 2. — Flowering 

 branch. 



