Rusty Blackhaw is an uncommon small tree of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain in North Carolina, distinguished from the similar and more common Blackhaw (V. prunifolium) by its lustrous upper leaf surfaces and rusty hairs.
Morrow Mountain State Park, Stanly Co., NC 4/17/2011.
Other common names include Blue Haw (from the bluish fruits) and Southern Black Haw.
Morrow Mountain State Park, Stanly Co., NC 4/17/2011.
Showy creamy-white flower clusters appear in mid-spring, generally a week or two later than Blackhaw.
Morrow Mountain State Park, Stanly Co., NC 4/17/2011.
The flowers are arranged in a flat-topped compound cyme.
Wake Co., NC 4/26/04.
Detail of the densely pubescent rusty-colored terminal buds.
The leaves are rusty-hairy underneath.
The bark is rough and blocky.
Viburnum and Sambucus (elderberry) are sometimes split off from the Caprifoliaceae into the Adoxaceae.
