Viburnum bracteatum Rehd., Limerock Arrow-Wood, a cultivated specimen at The State Botanical Garden of University of Georgia, Athens, Northeast Georgia, Georgia, United States (April 28, 2010)
Scientific name: Viburnum bracteatum Rehd. Common name: Limerock Arrow-Wood Family: Caprifoliaceae; Honeysuckle Legal status: Endangered in Georgia Flowering period: April-May; Habitat: Limestone bluffs along Coosa River in Rome, Georgia Type locality: Rome, Floyd County, Georgia Herbarium specimens: Cambridge, MA Specimens at arboretums: Jamaica Plain, MA

Comments: The species was first discovered by physician and botanist Alvan Wentworth Chapman (1809-1899) in Floyd County, Georgia. In 1903, German born Alfred Rehder (1863-1949), American botanist, described the species from Chapman's collection and published in Sargent, Charles S. Trees and Shrubs, Illustrations of New and Little Known Ligneous Plant Vol.I Boston and New York: Houghton Millinand Comp. 1905, page 135.

Description: "Leaves deciduous, petioled, orbicular-ovate to ovate, from 6 to 12 centimeters long, from 4.5 to 10 centimeters broad, shortly acuminate, rarely obtusish, cordate at base, remotely and shallowly sinuate-dentate, with obtuse and mucronulate teeth, usually entire in lower third, ciliate, bright green and glabrous above, pale green beneath and pubescent along the midrib and the five or six pairs of veins and bearded in their axils, otherwise glabrous or nearly so, at maturity almost glabrous ; petioles grooved above, glandular, from 1.5 to 2 centimeters long, furnished at the base with one or two pairs of linear ciliate stipules from 2 to 10 millimeters in length. Flowers white in terminal umbelliform cymes, from 3 to 7 centimeters in diameter, glandular-puberulous ; peduncle slender, from 5 to 6 centimeters long, glandular ; primary rays five to seven; raylets and pedicles furnished with conspicuous oblong-linear to linear bracts, from 6 to 12 millimeters long, glandular; and ciliate, exceeding the pedicles and the flowers before anthesis; ovaries oblong, glandular; calyx-teeth semiorbicular, ciliate; corolla rotate-cupulate, about 8 millimeters across, sparingly hairy outside, the suborbicular lobes about as long or slightly longer than the tube; stamens nearly twice as long as the corolla, with oval yellow anthers. Drupe ovoid, about 1 centimeter long, bluish black; stone elliptic-ovoid, about 8 millimeters long, compressed, with two lateral grooves and median ridge on one side and on the other side with two lateral grooves and a very shallow median groove more distinctly noticeable in the seed. An upright shrub with many slender spreading stems, growing about 3 meters high; young branchlets glabrous and green, soon becoming light grayish brown; older branches clothed with gray bark marked with shallow longitudinal fissures; winter-buds ovate, obtusish, brown, with three to four pairs of outer ciliate scales. Flowers in May. Fruit ripens in September." - Alfred Rehder, 1905.

Identification help: Viburnum rafinesquianum Schult., Downy Arrow-Wood, has a shorter petiole 2-12 mm long, its leaves are hairy beneath. The fruit is ellipsoid and 7-9 mm long. Viburnum dentatum L., Southern Arrow-Wood, has a petiole 10-25 mm long, its leaves are hairy in axils and on the veins, and lacks stipules and bracts. The drupe is large, about 10 mm long. ( Ref.2.)

References:
1.Sargent, Charles S. Trees and Shrubs, Illustrations of New and Little Known Ligneous Plant Vol.I Boston and New York: Houghton Millinand Comp. (1905), page 135.
2. Kral, Robert. A Report on Some Rare, Threatened, or Endangered Forest-Related Vascular Plants of the South. Vol. I and II. Technical Publication R8-TP 2 Atlanta: USDA Forest Service, 1983.
3. USDA-NRCS. 2006. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov June 06, 2006). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Last updated on April 30, 2010.

Botanical explorations in Floyd County, Georgia
A. W. Chapman's collection from Floyd County, Georgia