Plant
Arrowwood viburnum
Viburnum dentatum
A native deciduous shrub of moist eastern hardwood forests — distinguished by toothed leaves, creamy-white spring flower clusters, and blue-black berries in late summer. Common across Staten Island in the Greenbelt's understory and at moist forest edges. Important wildlife food: ~30+ bird species eat the berries. Historic indigenous use for arrow shafts (the source of the common name).
Scientific
Viburnum dentatum is a 6–15 ft deciduous shrub native to eastern North America. Toothed leaves, flat clusters of small white flowers in late spring, blue-black drupes ripening late summer. The straight young shoots were used by indigenous peoples of the Northeast for arrow shafts — the origin of the common name.
The genus Viburnum in the Northeast is currently threatened across multiple species by the introduced viburnum leaf beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni), which defoliates susceptible species. Arrowwood is less susceptible than some other native viburnums but is not immune.
Bird-food value is high — robins, thrushes, mockingbirds, cardinals, and many fall migrants eat the berries.
On Staten Island
Common in the Greenbelt’s understory and at moist forest-edge sites borough-wide. One of the more-frequently-encountered native shrubs in SI woodlands.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Member of: [[plants]]
- Contained by: [[staten-island]]
Sources
- USDA NRCS Plants Database: arrowwood viburnum
- Northeastern viburnum leaf beetle research
Rooted in life.
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Scientific
counterpart to
- Mapleleaf viburnum the borough's two principal native viburnums — arrowwood for moister forest edges, mapleleaf for drier shaded forest interiors
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