nannyberry

not listed

N5? - Secure

SNR - Unranked

not listed

FACU - Facultative upland

FAC - Facultative

FAC - Facultative

Nannyberry is a moderate growing, short lived, tall shrub with multiple stems or a short tree with a single stem. It rises from scattered, deep, anchoring roots and shallow, branched, fibrous, soil-binding roots. The roots have buds which may sprout and form above-ground stems (suckers). When conditions permit, it forms colonies which may become large and dense.

The stems are slender and crooked. They may be up to 26′ tall and up to 6″ in diameter at breast height, but are usually no more than 20′ in height and 3″ in diameter.

Twigs are slender, long, flexible, and round or somewhat six-sided. First-year twigs are pale green and covered with downy, rust-colored hairs at first, becoming gray or dull grayish-brown, smooth, and hairless. Second-year twigs are brown to reddish-brown or grayish brown, and may be somewhat covered with a whitish, waxy bloom (glaucous). The twigs have an unpleasant odor when bruised. The pith is white and solid. The leaf scars are narrow, crescent-shaped, and slightly raised. Each leaf scar has three bundle scars. The terminal bud is brownish-gray, hairless, ¾″ to 1¼″ long, oblong cone-shaped, and somewhat flattened, with a swollen, bulbous base and a long, tapered tip. It is covered by two sharply pointed, abutting but not overlapping, sharply-pointed scales. Lateral buds are about half as long, are not swollen at the base, and are often curved.

The bark is grayish-brown and smooth at first, becoming rough and shallowly furrowed with irregular, scaly plates on older stems. When broken, the bark has a skunk-like odor.

The leaves are opposite, undivided (simple), and deciduous. They are attached to the twig on a ⅝″ to 1¼″ long leaf stalk (petiole). The petiole is channeled on the upper (ventral) side and and has conspicuous wavy wings. It is moderately to densely covered with microscopic, red, star-shaped hairs when young, becoming hairless or nearly hairless at maturity. There are no projecting glands near the attachment of the leaf blade. There are no leaf-like appendages (stipules) at the base of the petiole. The leaf blades are relatively thin, broadly egg-shaped to elliptical or broadly elliptical, 2″ to 4″ long, and 1⅜″ to 2⅜″ wide. They are rounded or broadly tapered at the base and taper to a short, sharp point at the tip with concave sides along the tip. They are pinnately veined. The lateral veins are evenly spaced, curve toward the tip, and form a network with adjacent veins without reaching the margin. The upper surface is dark green or yellowish-green and glossy, with scattered, microscopic, red, star-shaped hairs when young, becoming hairless at maturity. The lower surface is pale green with tiny, dark brown dots. The margins have more than 25 fine, sharp, forward-pointing teeth on each side. The leaves turn red or reddish-purple in the fall.

The inflorescence is a dense, rounded, shallowly convex, 2″ to 4″ in diameter, branched cluster (cyme) at the ends of the current-year branches. The cymes have usually 3 to 5, sometimes up to 7, main branches emanating from the tip of the branch. Each cyme has a few hundred to several hundred small flowers.

The flowers are ⅛″ to 5⁄16″ in diameter. There are five sepals, five petals, five stamens, and no style. The sepals are green, fused for most of their length into a minute cup (calyx), and separated at the tip into five minute, egg-shaped lobes. The petals are pale yellow to creamy white, egg-shaped to elliptical, and 1 ⁄16″ to ⅛″ long. The stamens have white filaments and bright yellow anthers. They are ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ long, longer than the petals. There is a three-lobed, stalkless stigma on a short disk (stylopodium) at the top of the ovary. The flowers on the margin are fertile and are similar in appearance and size to the other flowers. The flowers are not fragrant. They appear in mid-May to early June.

The fruit is an edible, juicy, berry-like, ellipse-shaped to nearly spherical, somewhat flattened, 5 ⁄16″ to ⅝″ long drupe. It contains one seed. It is green initially, becoming bluish-black and glaucous at maturity. The calyx and stigma persist in fruit, forming a dried tip at the end (apex) of the drupe. The pedicels turn red as the fruit matures. The fruit ripens in late August to late September, often remaining on the plant through the winter.

8′ to 26′

Creamy white

American highbush cranberry (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) leaves are 3-lobed. The petiole has 2 to 4 projecting glands near the attachment of the leaf blade. The flowers on the margin of the inflorescence are sterile and have large, conspicuous corollas.

Downy arrowwood (Viburnum rafinesqueanum var. rafinesqueanum) petioles are much shorter, ⅛″ to ½″ long, are not winged, and have a pair of stipules at the base. The leaf margins are coarsely toothed with fewer than 15 teeth per side. The lateral veins are straight, not curved, and extend all the way to the margin. The lower leaf surface has patches of woolly hairs in the larger vein axils. The inflorescence is much smaller, only ¾″ to 2⅜″ in diameter; is borne on a pedicel up to 2″ long; and contains fewer than 100 flowers.

Moist to moderate moisture. Hardwood forest edges, flood plains, lakeshores, riverbanks, roadsides. Full sun to partial shade.

Mid-May to early June

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 28, 29, 30.

Native

Common

Family
There is some disagreement about the correct placement of the genera Sambucus and Viburnum. They were formerly included in the family Caprifoliaceae. In 2003, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group proposed moving them to the Adoxacea family (APG II), but the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants approved the conservation of Viburnaceae. In 2016, Angiosperm Phylogeny Group proposed to “super-conserve” Adoxacea (APG IV), but the General Committee for Botanical Nomenclature rejected the proposal.

Currently (2023), some sources, including USDA PLANTS and NatureServe, place the genera Sambucus and Viburnum in the Caprifoliaceae family. Some sources, including ITIS and NCBI, place them in the Adoxacea family. Almost all other sources, including APG IV, World Flora Online, Plants of the World Online, GRIN, GBIF, and iNaturalist, place the two genera in the Viburnaceae family.

The common name nannyberry refers to the curious fact that nanny goats are more drawn to the fruits than billy goats. Another common name, sheepberry, refers to the odor of overripe fruit, which has been described as the smell of wet wool.

Plant

Inflorescence

Leaf

Infructescence