Scientific Name: Viburnum opulus var. opulus
Common Name: European cranberry bush, European snowball
Family Name: Viburnaceae
Origin: Africa, Europe
Hardiness Zone: Zone 3: (-40 to -34 °C)
Plant Type: Flowering cut plant, Shrub - deciduous
Mature Size: 3 - 5m x 3 - 4m (height x width)
Habit: Upright
Form: Round, Vase
Texture: Coarse
Landscape Uses: Attract birds, Mixed shrub border
Exposure: Full sun, Part sun/part shade
Soil or Media:
Leaves: Simple, Lobed, Opposite, Soft flexible, Glabrous, Orbicular, Dentate, Pinnately lobed
Flowers: Cyme, White, Pink, Apr-May-Jun
Fruit: Drupe, Edible, Aborted (hybrids) or absent, Red, Aug, (Persistent)
Key ID Features:
Shrub up to 4m tall; leaves opposite, blades three-lobed; rounded, 5-10cm long x 4-9cm wide, lower surfave usually pubescent; petiole with narrow groove and 2-7 disc-like glands; cymes of most cultivars forming a rounded ball or "pompom", 4-8cm wide, florets creamy-white, about 1.5cm wide; drupe cranberry-like, round, about 6mm wide, bright red (absent in some cvs.). Winter ID: smooth grey bark, twigs glabrous, lateral buds smooth, most about 7mm long; leaf scars V to crescent shaped, each with 3 vein scars.