388 Bush-Fruits 



being Viburnum Opulus, Linn. It is a tall and nearly 

 smooth shrub, with gray bark, scaly buds and large, 

 three to five-lobed leaves, the lobes pointed and com- 

 monly few-toothed. The flowers are white, borne in 

 broad, flat clusters, and are followed by the bright-colored 

 fruit which is carried on the tips of the branches, well 

 above the leaves. The species is much better known in 

 the modified form in which it commonly appears in cul- 

 tivation, which is the guelder rose or snowball so fre- 

 quently planted upon lawns. In that form it has become 

 entirely sterile, by the culture adopted to bring out the 

 spherical head of bloom. In the wild type only the mar- 

 ginal florets are neutral. 



The species is found wild in the northern parts of 

 Europe, Asia and North Africa, and is in many respects 

 a more desirable ornamental plant than its modified de- 

 scendant. Although pleasing in habit and foliage, it is 

 especially attractive in fruit. About the last of July the 

 berries take on a greenish yellow or orange hue, tinged 

 with bright red on the side toward the sun. From that 

 time until spring, unless taken by the birds, which com- 

 monly do not molest it when other food is abundant, the 

 fruit is always attractive. When ripe in autumn it be- 

 comes a brilliant deep scarlet and remains so until severe 

 frosts, which cause it to become somewhat duller, though 

 it will remain bright all winter if allowed to hang. This 

 renders the plant attractive throughout the greater portion 

 of the year. Its flowers, too, are as graceful as those of the 

 sterile form. The American tree cranberry is somewhat 

 different from the Old World plant, and botanists now 

 separate it as Viburnum americanum. 



