American bush-cranberry (American cranberrybush)
Adoxaceae (Honeysuckle family)
(Previously in Caprifoliaceae)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Map
Distribution of Viburnum opulus var. americanum
Click here to view the full interactive map and legend
Species Information
General:
Deciduous, erect, large shrub, 1-4 m tall; twigs glabrous; bark smooth, grey.
Leaves:
Opposite, stalked, broadly egg-shaped to nearly round in outline, 5-13 cm long, all deeply and sharply 3-lobed, coarsely blunt-toothed, nearly glabrous or hairy beneath on the veins; stalks with a shallow groove and small glands upward.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a flattish cluster of several to many flowers, 5-15 cm across, with sterile marginal flowers much larger than the fertile inner ones; petals white, fused at bases into tubes that spread (1.5-2.5 cm wide) to 5 large lobes in the marginal flowers, to 3-4 mm wide in the small inner flowers; stamens conspicuous, exserted of corolla, the filaments 3-5 mm long.
Fruits:
Berrylike drupes, clustered, scarlet, 0.8-1.5 cm long, each with a single, large, flattened stone.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Red
Present over the
Source: The USDA
Ecology
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
802 | 625 | 980 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
1 | 0 | 3 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
360 | 360 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
6 | 6 | 7 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
E | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
2 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
SBS | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
SBS(2) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist streambanks and lakesides in the steppe and montane zones; infrequent in WC, SC and SE BC; E to NF and S to PA, WY, ID, and WA.Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Viburnum opulus subsp. trilobum (Marsh.) R.T. Clausen
Viburnum trilobum Marsh.
Taxonomic Keys
TAXONOMIC KEY TO VIBURNUM
1. Leaves deeply 3-lobed; sterile corollas 1.5-2.5 cm across; stamens conspicuous, exserted from the corollas V. opulus 1. Leaves shallowly 3-lobed; corollas all 0.4-0.7 cm across; stamens inconspicuous V. edule |