Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: American cranberrybush
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Adoxaceae
Native Range: North America
Zone: 2 to 7
Height: 8.00 to 12.00 feet
Spread: 8.00 to 12.00 feet
Bloom Time: April to May
Bloom Description: White lacecap
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Hedge
Flower: Showy
Leaf: Good Fall
Attracts: Birds, Butterflies
Fruit: Showy, Edible
Culture
Easily grown in average, moist, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers loams with consistent moisture, but tolerates a wide range of soils. Prune as needed immediately after flowering.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Viburnum opulus var. americanum, synonymous with and formerly known as Viburnum trilobum, is native to swampy woods, bogs, lake margins, pastures, thickets, slopes and moist low places from New Brunswick to British Columbia south to New York, the Great Lakes, South Dakota and Oregon. It is often called American cranberry bush in order to distinguish it from the similar European cranberry bush, Viburnum opulus. For many years, American cranberry bush has also been commonly called highbush cranberry. It is a deciduous shrub with a dense, rounded, spreading habit that typically grows to 8-12’ tall. It features lacecap white flowers in spring in flat-topped 3” wide cymes of tiny fertile florets surrounded by larger sterile florets, drooping clusters of cranberry-like red berries (drupes) in fall and three lobed, maple-like, dark green leaves. The berries (drupes) are edible fresh off the shrub, and are much less bitter than those berries found on V. opulus. Berries are sometimes used to make jams and jellies. Fruits tend to shrivel after frost. Foliage turns a sometimes attractive purplish red in fall.
Genus name comes from the Latin name of a species plant.
The true cranberry that is grown commercially for food (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a non-related member of the heath family.
Problems
Watch for aphids. Viburnum crown borer can cause stem dieback. Some susceptibility to bacterial leaf spot, stem blight and powdery mildew.
Uses
Shrub borders or foundations. Woodland margins. Hedge or screen.