0597 



VIBURNUM 



Family: CAPRIFOLIACEAE. 



Reproductive system: PENTANDRY, TRIGYNY. 



A variety of this shrub, the European cranberry bush, Viburnum opulus, LINN., is 

 cultivated in gardens almost everywhere. Its flowers are very large, sterile, and cluster in 

 a ball. It goes by the names of guelder rose, snowball, etc. The numerous flowers, 

 dazzlingly white, create a superb sight in large parterres in early spring. 



The European cranberry bush grows five or six feet high. The stem is smooth, 

 cylindrical, and branchy. The leaves are smooth, opposite, and petiolate. They have three 

 pointed lobes and are unevenly toothed on the margins. The flowers are white, terminal, 

 and form umbels. The peripheral ones are much larger than the rest, irregular, and usually 

 are sterile. The calyx has five short lobes and has a bract at its base. The corolla is bell- 

 shaped with five lobes. The five stamens, longer than the lobes of the corolla, alternate 

 with them. The ovary adheres to the calyx; it's crowned with three stigmata. The fruit is 

 an elliptical, monospermous red berry. The seed is hard, flattened, and heart-shaped. 



FLOWERS: in May and June. 



RANGE: France and a large part of Europe. 



NOMENCLATURE. German, der schneebatten, bachholde. English, the water- 

 elder. Dutch, watervlier. Italian, oppio. Russian, kalina dikaia, kalinik. Hungarian, 

 kanya-fa. Armenian, alaschoari. 



USES. The snowball bush should be used to ornament springtime gardens and the 

 European cranberry bush for the autumn ones, 



