Wayfaring-tree (Viburnum lantana)

Synonyms: Viburnum lantana L. var. sphaerocarpum

Common Names: Wayfaring tree

Description: Commonly grown as an ornamental for its flowers and berries. Fruit is mildly toxic if consumed in large quantities.

Habit: Deciduous multi-stemed shrub in the honeysuckle family reaching 10 to 15 feet in height and having a somewhat round shape.

Leaves: Leathery, 2 to 5 inches long, opposite, simple, ovate with cordate or rounded bases and uniform serrations. Dark green to gray green in color that turn a purplish-red color in the fall.

Stems: Medium texture, scruffy gray-brown with pubescence; vegetative buds are naked, stalked and scruffy gray-brown. Bark is initially smooth and gray-brown and lenticelled, becoming somewhat scaly.

Flowers: Showy, displayed in 3 to 5 inchese flat-top dense clusters of tiny creamy white flowers, each with 5 petals and bloom in mid-May. Tend to have an unpleasant fishy odor.

Fruit and seeds: Elliptical berries form in drupes/clusters. Each are 1/3 inch long, somewhat flattened, green to red and finally black in color.

Habitat: Native to Europe and western Asia. Grows in full sun to partial shade with fertile, well-drained, loamy soils. It can tolerate calcareous and dry soils.

Reproduction: Vegetatively or by seeds. Roots are fibrous.

Similar species: Linden arrowwood (Viburnum dilatatum), Leatherleaf arrowwood (Viburnum rhytidophyllum), Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides), Koreanspice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii).

Monitoring and rapid response: Girdling by removing bark and phloem layer from 10 cm band around trunk; cut stems with shears, chain saw and apply herbicides. Can be effectively controlled using any of several readily available general use herbicides such as glyphosate or triclopyr. Monitor and retreat regrowth or suckers.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation vTree and the U.S Forest Service Weed of the Week 08-07-06.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

---