A ring of large, showy sterile flowers surrounds a flat cluster of small fertile ones, on a shrub with three-lobed leaves
Guelder rose.
Nature · Shrubs
Guelder rose
Native · flowers May–Jul · damp hedgerows, fens and scrub
Viburnum opulus — Adoxaceae
Not a rose at all but a viburnum: a shrub of damp hedges, fens and riverbanks with maple-like lobed leaves, flat white flowerheads ringed by showy sterile florets, and translucent red berries in autumn. Its garden form, the snowball tree, is a ball of sterile flowers.
How to spot them
- ▸Opposite, three-lobed, maple-like leaves, coarsely toothed, with a channelled stalk and a pair of round glands near the leaf base
- ▸Flat-topped white flower clusters in which a ring of larger sterile florets surrounds smaller fertile ones
- ▸Hanging bunches of translucent, bright red berries in autumn; leaves turn orange-red
- ▸Green, hairless buds pressed to hairless grey twigs
- ▸Look-alikes: field maple leaves are similar but lack the glandular stalk and the lobing is less distinct; wayfaring tree has undivided oval leaves and a uniform flowerhead
How to know it
Glossy translucent red berries hang in bunches from a damp-soil hedge shrub whose leaves look like a maple's
Guelder rose.
Its garden cultivar 'Roseum', a ball of sterile flowers, is called the snowball tree
Guelder rose.
It is named after the Dutch province of Gelderland, where a popular cultivar is thought to have originated
Guelder rose.
It is a national symbol of Ukraine, appearing in folk songs and embroidery, under the name kalyna
Guelder rose.
Despite the name it is not a rose but a viburnum, in the moschatel family Adoxaceae
Guelder rose — Viburnum opulus.
Its bark is used as 'cramp bark' in traditional medicine, and its raw berries are mildly toxic
Guelder rose.
Quick-fire facts
- •Viburnum opulus, family Adoxaceae (previously placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae); not related to true roses
- •Woodland Trust: the name refers to Gelderland in the Netherlands, where the snowball tree cultivar supposedly originated
- •Other names: water elder, dogberry, cramp bark, snowball tree, European cranberry bush
- •National symbol of Ukraine (kalyna), mentioned in folk songs and depicted in art and embroidery
- •TOXICITY: berries are mildly toxic raw (Woodland Trust) but can be cooked into jelly or jam; do not eat them uncooked
- •Berries feed bullfinch and mistle thrush; the flowers attract hoverflies
- •Grows on damp neutral or chalky soils at low altitude across the UK, rare in Scotland; some garden escapes have yellow fruits
- •The bark is used as a tincture said to relieve muscle cramps
- •Typical of old damp hedges, and one of the species counted when applying Hooper's rule
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus)