The New Student's Reference Work/Viburnum

Vibur′num, a class of shrubs and small trees belonging to the honeysuckle family. Of the nearly 80 species about a dozen are found in the United States, growing in woods or hedges. The hobble bush, whose straggling branches catch the traveler's foot, is found in the northern states; the sheepberry or sweet virburnum, having clusters of fragrant flowers in May or June and a blue-black, eatable fruit, and growing sometimes from 20 to 30 feet high; the arrow-wood, with sharp teeth on its large-veined leaves; and the maple-leaved virburnum, easily mistaken for a small maple tree and called dockmackie in some parts of the country, are the most common varieties. The lamestinus, a native of southern Europe, with evergreen leaves and white flowers, belongs to the viburnums and is a favorite house-plant.