General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Tree
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Partial or Dappled Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Soil pH Preferences: Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 9b
Plant Height: 15 - 20 feet (4.5 - 6 m)
Plant Spread: 12 - 15 feet (3.5 - 4.5 m)
Leaves: Good fall color
Deciduous
Fruit: Showy
Edible to birds
Other: 1/3 inch ovoid, fleshy single-seeded drupes, green ripening to bluish-black.
Fruiting Time: Summer
Late summer or early fall
Flowers: Showy
Fragrant
Other: Cymes 3 to 5 inches across bearing small flowers.
Flower Color: White
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Spring
Late spring or early summer
Underground structures: Taproot
Uses: Windbreak or Hedge
Flowering Tree
Will Naturalize
Edible Parts: Fruit
Eating Methods: Raw
Cooked
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Birds
Butterflies
Resistances: Pollution
Humidity tolerant
Drought tolerant
Propagation: Seeds: Self fertile
Stratify seeds
Sow in situ
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Stem
Layering
Division
Pollinators: Various insects
Miscellaneous: Tolerates poor soil
Monoecious
Goes Dormant

Image
Common names
  • Blackhaw Viburnum
  • Blackhaw
  • Stagberry
  • Smooth Blackhaw
  • Stag Bush
  • Sweet Haw
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Viburnum prunifolium
  • Synonym: Viburnum ferrugineum
  • Synonym: Viburnum prunifolium var. bushii

Photo Gallery
Photo by TheCreekKid
Location: Roadside, Willow Street, Pennsylvania
Date: 2022-05-08
Location: Roadside, Willow Street, Pennsylvania
Date: 2022-05-08

Date: 2016-09-29
Location: Wheaton, Illinois
Date: autumn in 1980's
close-up of autumn leaves
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2023-10-24
red fall foliage on a mature shrub-tree
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-10-23
mature fruit and leaves in fall
Location: In front of the City Hall in Oklahoma City
Date: 12-16-2019
Leatherleaf Viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophyllum) 001
Location: St Louis
Date: 2014-11-02
Location: Fairfax, VA | May, 2023
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-04-30
good specimen in bloom
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-04-30
crown of a small tree in bloom
Location: National Botanical Garden (DC) | November 2022
Date: 2022-11-26
Location: Malvern, Pennsylvania
Date: 2012-04-19
full-grown tree in bloom
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-10-23
foliage in fall and mature fruit
Location: In front of the City Hall in Oklahoma City
Date: 12-16-2019
Leatherleaf Viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophyllum) 002
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2015-05-09
Location: Fairfax, VA | May, 2023
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-04-30
specimen in bloom
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-04-30
trunks of a specimen at a business park
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-04-30
trunks of a specimen
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-04-30
close-up of flower clusters
Location: West Chester, Pennsylvania
Date: 2014-07-29
immature green fruit
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2015-12-31
tree in winter
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2015-12-31
mature black fruit
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-10-23
top of tree in reddish fall color
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2017-06-14
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2017-06-14
Location: Lionville (Exton), Pennsylvania
Date: 2019-10-23
fruit clusters high above
Photo by robertduval14
Photo by robertduval14

Date: 2004-06-06
Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/

Date: 2004-06-06
Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/

Date: 2004-06-06
Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/

Date: 2002-05-06
Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/
Location: Ohio
Date: 2004-06-06
Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/
Location: Tennessee
Date: 2004-06-06
Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/

Date: 2008-03-29
Photo: Dave Moore
Location: Texas
photo by Mrs. W.D.Bransford
Location: Vienna, VA
Date: 2017-11-30
Photo by SongofJoy
Location: Hinsdale, Illinois
Date: summer in 1980's
planted full-grown specimen
Location: Hinsdale, Illinois
Date: summer in 1980's
the trunks and bark
Location: West Chester, Pennsylvania
Date: 2014-05-12
full-grown shrub-tree in bloom
Location: Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Date: 2011-05-08
shrub-tree in bloom
Location: Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Date: 2011-05-08
white flower clusters
Location: Cantigny Park in Wheaton, IL
Date: November in 1980's
red autumn foliage mostly gone
Location: Stroud Land Preserve in southeast PA
Date: 2015-10-23
autumn color of crown of tree in woods
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2015-12-31
trunk
Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Dec 25, 2017 1:20 PM concerning plant:
    Blackhaw Viburnum usually is a shrub-tree about 15 to 20 feet high in landscapes, but it can be a small tree of 20 to 35 feet high. Its native range is from southeast New York & Connecticut down to central Alabama to northern Arkansas & most of Missouri, Illinois-Indiana-Ohio and southern Michigan through most of Pennsylvania & New Jersey back to beginning, in upland sites. It is very similar to the Nannyberry Viburnum, but is a larger plant with smaller, more rounded leaves usually about 2 inches long, and smaller gray naked pointed buds, and it has sharp spur branchlets that hurt when bumped into, thus called a "haw" or Black Hawthorn. It is a handsome, high quality small tree that is sold by larger, diverse nurseries and native plant nurseries, and is used occasionally by landscape designers in parks, campuses, public properties, office parks, and such. I've seen it growing wild in various locations in southeast Pennsylvania usually in woodland edges. It grows about 1.5 feet/year and lives about 60 to 100 years. Its root system is shallow and fibrous and it is easy to transplant. This clean, neat small tree should be used a lot more in landscapes.
  • Posted by Mindy03 (Delta KY) on Mar 12, 2012 1:56 PM concerning plant:
    Honey bees get nectar from this plant.
Plant Events from our members
aspenhill On April 18, 2015 Obtained plant
LWC Plant Sale (Hill House) - qty 1
SuperHappyCamper On April 15, 2023 Obtained plant
Purchased from Drew at spring plant sale located at Gardens of Kennesaw Mtn.
» Post your own event for this plant

Discussion Threads about this plant
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
Viburnum prunifolium - NOT V. rhytidophyllum by ViburnumValley Dec 21, 2019 2:48 PM 1
This is a Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium) - NOT V. rhytidophyllum by ViburnumValley Dec 21, 2019 2:48 PM 1

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