Viburnum furcatum

Blume ex Maxim.

Adoxaceae Edible: Fruit 556 iNaturalist observations

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Summary

Viburnum furcatum, the forked viburnum or scarlet leaved viburnum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Adoxaceae (formerly Caprifoliaceae). Growing to 4 m (13 ft) tall and broad, it is a substantial deciduous shrub with rounded oval bronze-green leaves, turning red in autumn. Scented white flower-heads resembling those of lacecap hydrangeas are borne in summer, followed by black fruits. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Description

A shrub. It loses its leaves during the year. It grows 3.5 m tall. The leaves are oval and bronze-green. They turn red in autumn. The flower heads are white. The fruit are black.

Edible Uses

The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked.

Traditional Uses

The fruit are eaten raw or cooked.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Medicinal Uses

None known

Distribution

It is a temperate plant. It grows in damp woods and in scrub in mountains in Japan. It needs an acid or neutral soil. It can grow in very acid soils. It is hardy to zone 6. Arboretum Tasmania.

Where It Grows

Asia, Australia, Japan, Korea, Tasmania,

Cultivation

An easily grown plant, it succeeds in most soils but is ill-adapted for poor soils and for dry situations. It requires a lime-free soil, preferring a deep rich loamy soil in a shady position. Requires woodland conditions but without competition from other plants. Best if given shade from the early morning sun in spring. A very hardy plant, tolerating temperatures down to about -25°c. Plants are self-incompatible and need to grow close to a genetically distinct plant in the same species in order to produce fruit and fertile seed. This species is closely related to V. lantanoides.

Propagation

Seed is best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe. Germination can be slow, sometimes taking more than 18 months. Seed harvested green — fully developed but not yet fully ripe — and sown immediately in a cold frame should germinate the following spring. Stored seed needs 2 months of warm stratification followed by 3 months of cold stratification, and may still take 18 months to germinate. Prick seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame or greenhouse, planting out in late spring or early summer the following year. Softwood cuttings taken in early summer in a frame should be potted individually once rooting begins and planted out the following late spring or early summer. Half-ripe cuttings, 5–8cm long with a heel if possible, taken in July or August in a frame, should be potted as soon as they root. These can be difficult to overwinter and are best kept under glass until spring before planting out. Mature wood cuttings taken in winter in a frame should root in early spring; pot when large enough and plant out in summer if sufficient new growth has formed, otherwise overwinter in a frame and plant out the following spring. Layering of the current season's growth in July or August takes 15 months.

Other Uses

None known Special Uses

Notes

There are about 150 Viburnum species. Also put in the family Caprifoliaceae.

References (4)

Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Petersbourg 26:483; Meanges Biol. Bull. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Petersbourg 10:657. 1880 (Diagn. pl. nov. asiat.)
Chen, B. & Qiu, Z., Consumer's Attitudes towards Edible Wild Plants, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. p 26 www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfr/aip/872413.pdf
Hibbert, M., 2002, The Aussie Plant Finder 2002, Florilegium. p 306
Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/