Viburnum lentago
Common name: 
Nannyberry
Sheepberry
Pronunciation: 
vi-BER-num len-TA-go
Family: 
Adoxaceae, Caprifoliaceae
Genus: 
Viburnum
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Deciduous shrub or small tree, 15-18(30) ft [4.5-5.5(9) m] tall, slender, arching branches.  Leaves opposite, simple, ovate to obovate, to 10 × 5 cm, apex pointed (acuminate), base wedge-shaped or rounded, finely toothed, glabrous and glossy dark green above (fall color may range from green to purple red); petiole to 2.5 cm, often slightly winged.  Flowers have white petals and yellow stamens, giving a creamy appearance, in flat-topped clusters, 7.5-10 cm wide.  Fruit oval, to 16 mm long, ripen to blue-black.
  • Sun and shade.  Tolerant of moist and dry soils.  Used in naturalizing.  Fruit attracts birds.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 3       Native range from Hudson Bay to Manitoba and south to Georgia and Mississippi.
  • lentago:  flexible, Latin,  assigned by Linnaeus as the twigs are very tough and bendable 
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  • plant habit, flowering tree

    plant habit, flowering tree

  • flowering branches

    flowering branches

  • flower clusters and leaves

    flower clusters and leaves

  • leaf

    leaf

  • trunk, bark

    trunk, bark

  • plant habit, shrub

    plant habit, shrub

  • plant habit, shrub

    plant habit, shrub

  • leaves

    leaves

  • leaf and developing fruit

    leaf and developing fruit

  • plant habit, fall

    plant habit, fall

  • fruit, fall

    fruit, fall

  • plant habit, winter

    plant habit, winter

  • twigs and buds, winter

    twigs and buds, winter