Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Squashberry
Viburnum edule
Moschatel family (Adoxaceae)

Many Viburnums are large shrubs with showy spring flowers and abundant (and often edible) clusters of . Squashberry (Viburnum edule has a tart taste somewhat reminiscent of Cranberries. The can be eaten raw, but it does have a tough skin and relatively large seed. "Viburnum" means "the wayfaring tree" in Latin, perhaps given because it spreads easily and widely, especially through seed dispersal by birds. "Edule" means "edible."


©2008 Marilylle Soveran

Description

Shrub to 6' tall. Twigs , gray to brown. Leaves , , variable from to , 1 1/2 to 4" long, narrow or nearly as wide. Leaves typically smooth above and hairy on margins and underside veins. Few small milky white perfect flowers in clusters to 1 1/2" broad. to about 1/3", a red or orange-red with one large, flat seed.

Field Marks

Shrub with cluster of white flowers followed by red edible .

© Al Schneider

A simple leaf blade is one that is not divided into separate leaflets.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

In an opposite leaf arrangement the leaves come in pairs with one leaf on each side of a stem.

The botanical term "berry" is different from common usage. Strawberries and raspberries are not berries. But a tomatoe is. A true berry is a fruit with the seeds immersed in the pulp.

elliptic -- Oval, with no point or a very short point.

palmate -- Consisting of leaflets or lobes radiating from the base of the leaf.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.