Guelder Rose
Viburnum opulus (Guelder-rose, Water Elder) is a species of Viburnum, native to
Europe and Asia. Some botanists also treat the closely related North American
species Viburnum trilobum as a variety of it (as Viburnum opulus var. americanum
Ait.), or a subspecies, Viburnum opulus subsp. trilobum (Marshall) Clausen. The
name appears to have originated because a popular cultivar, the Snowball tree
(see Cultivation and uses) supposedly first originated in the Dutch province of
Guelderland.
It is a deciduous shrub growing to 4-5 m tall. The leaves are opposite,
three-lobed, 5-10 cm long and broad, with a rounded base and coarsely serrated
margins; they are superficially similar to the leaves of some maples, most
easily distinguished by their somewhat wrinkled surface with impressed leaf
venation. The leaf buds are green, with are valvate bud scales.
The hermaphrodite flowers are white, produced in corymbs 4-11 cm diameter at the
top of the stems; each corymb comprises a ring of outer sterile flowers 1.5-2 cm
diameter with conspicuous petals, surrounding a center of small (5 mm), fertile
flowers; the flowers are produced in early summer, and pollinated by insects.
The fruit is a globose bright red drupe 7-10 mm diameter, containing a single
seed. The seeds are dispersed when birds eat the fruit, then deposit the seeds
in another location in their droppings.