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Viburnum dentatum facts for kids

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Viburnum dentatum
Viburnum dentatum flowers.jpg
Conservation status

Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Genus:
Viburnum
Species:
dentatum
Vide range.png
Natural range in North America

Viburnum dentatum, southern arrowwood or arrowwood viburnum or roughish arrowwood, is a small shrub, native to the Eastern United States and Canada from Maine south to Northern Florida and Eastern Texas.

Like most Viburnum, it has opposite, simple leaves and fruit in berry-like drupes. Foliage turns yellow to red in late fall. Localized variations of the species are common over its entire geographic range. Common differences include leaf size and shape and placement of pubescence on leaf undersides and petioles.

2014-11-02 12 33 36 Arrowwood foliage during autumn along Broad Avenue in Ewing, New Jersey
Leaves in autumn

Larvae of moths feed on V. dentatum. Species include the unsated sallow or arrowwood sallow (Metaxaglaea inulta) or Phyllonorycter viburnella. It is also consumed by the viburnum leaf beetle, Pyrrhalta viburni, an invasive species from Eurasia. The fruits are a food source for songbirds. Berries contain 41.3% fat.

The fruits appear blue. The major pigments are cyanidin 3-glucoside, cyanidin 3-sambubioside and cyanidin 3-vicianoside, but the total mixture is very complex.

Native Americans used the young stems to make arrow shafts.

Subspecies

  • Viburnum dentatum dentatum
  • Viburnum dentatum lucidum - smooth arrowwood

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Viburnum dentatum para niños

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