CAPRIFOLIACEAE 



Nannyberry 

 Viburnum lentago L. 



HABIT. A shrub or small tree 15-30 feet high and 6-10 inches 

 in diameter; bushy, compact, rounded Qj:own. 



LEAVES. Opposite; simple; ovate; 2-4 inches long and 1-2 

 inches wide; sharply serrate; thick and firm; lustrous and bright 

 green above; yellow-green and marked with minute, black dots 

 below; deciduous; turning orange and red in autumn. 



FLOWERS. Regular; perfect; small (14 inch in diameter); 

 fragrant; in stout-branched, scurfy, terminal cymes 3-5 inches 

 across, corolla tubular, 5-lobed, white; stamens 5; ovary inferior, 

 1 -celled. 



FRUIT. Few-fruited, red-stemmed clusters of small, juicy, 

 blue-black, berry-like drupes; each drupe oval or ovoid, flat- 

 tened, and covered with glaucous bloom. Seed: solitary within 

 oval, rough, flattened nutlet. 



TWIGS. Slender; light green and hairy, becoming dark red- 

 brown. Winter buds: enclosed by one pair of valvate scales; 

 flower buds M inch long, grayish, swollen; terminal leaf bud 

 1 inch long, light red, narrow, and long-pointed. 



BARK. Red-brown; irregularly broken into small, thick plates 

 which are superficially scaly. 



WOOD. Heavy; hard; close-grained; diff'use-porous ; ill- 

 scented; heartwood dark orange-brown; unimportant. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Intolerant; very hardy; an 



attractive small ornamental tree; endures city smoke. 



* * * 



Five species reach tree size: 



I. Leaves entire or nearly so, dark green and lustrous. 



2. Leaves 4-6 inches long, broad oval; cymes long-stalked; Con- 

 necticut to Kentucky, south to Florida and Texas 



V. nudum L., Possumhaw Viburnum 



2. Leaves Vi-2 inches long, oblong to spatulate; cymes sessile; 



Virginia to Florida V. obovatum Walt., Walter Viburnum 



1. Leaves sharply toothed; cymes sessile or short-stalked. 



2. Leaves lustrous above, petioles and veins red-hairy below; 



buds red-hairy; New Jersey to Kansas and south 



V. rufidulum Raf., Rusty Blackhaw 



2. Leaves dull above, petioles and veins not hairy below; buds 

 long and slender, scurfy or glabrous. 

 3. Petioles and veins on lower leaf surface and buds red-scurfy 



V. lentago L., Nannyberry 



3. Petioles and veins glabrous; buds gray to brown, glabrous 

 or scurfy; Connecticut to Michigan and Kansas and south 

 F, prunifolium L. , Blackhaw 



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