Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Friday, November 20, 2009
Southern, Downy or Plain?
Most of the year this Viburnum sits quietly at the edge of the woods blending in with the greenery in the summer and the bare branches in the winter. But it has brief moments of glory twice a year. I love the way the pleated leaves unfold in the spring. And in fall, it does this:
This is a wild plant, by which I mean that I didn't pay for it or plant it. It was just there at the edge of the woods at Tangled Branches North. Early on, I thought I had identified it correctly as Arrowwood Viburnum (V. dentatum) and that was that. Oh, but things are rarely that simple in plant taxonomy and this innocent little plant is a good example of just how complicated the business of assigning names can be. Our taxonomic frenemies have split the one species - Viburnum dentatum - into several botanical varieties. Why botanical varieties and not subspecies? Good question. I quote from the abstract of a paper titled "IMPLICATIONS OF THE EQUIVALENCE OF SUBSPECIES AND VARIETY, AND OF THE IRRELEVANCE OF FORMA":
Subspecies and varieties are theoretically and practically indistinguishable, but both are currently used; and the choice relates more often to the geographic origin of the taxonomist than to the biology of the plants.
Glad we cleared that up.
Further, some plants which were formerly known as botanical varieties of Viburnum dentatum have been promoted to separate species. My plant may be one of those. The Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora says that a botanical variety named Viburnum dentatum L. var. lucidum Aiton is present in Fairfax County. But wait, the USDA Plants database says that Viburnum dentatum L. var. lucidum Aiton is a synonym for Viburnum recognitum, its true and proper name. Then they go on to list four other synonyms. By the way, I think that the variety name "lucidum" is a hoot, considering the tangled taxonomic mess we find ourselves in. Well maybe we could just call it Southern Arrowwood and be done with it. The USDA says that's the common name for all the plants in question here.
Unless it isn't one of the Southern Arrowwoods. Maybe it's a Downy Arrowwood (Viburnum rafinesquianum). I was browsing the catalog of Gardens North (on a tip from Kate) when this description caught my eye: "...this shrub also has outstanding fall color ... a dazzling display of golds, pinks, and reds". And they say it will grow in dry soil, which is where mine is. Duke University says V. rafinesquianum is similar to V. dentatum, and their photos look a lot like my plant.
So I don't know. It's a pretty plant and I like it and I wish to address it properly. I haven't found a key or guide to distinguishing these species, subspecies, varieties...whatever. If you know of one, please leave a comment.
Back to The Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora, we learn that Viburnum dentatum is a "... variable species; several varieties have been named based mostly on the distribution of various types of hairs. Their occurrence and distribution in Virginia are perhaps worthy of study." They could come to my house to start.
Labels: viburnum
2 Comments:
Heee! Don't you love the clarity of scientific writing? The object seems to be to make an article, including abstract, as trenchant and incomprehensible as possible. Which makes me glad I left that world far, far behind. (it's the same in the literary article writing world though, equally excruciating. So much for dissemination of knowledge).
Jodi: Pictures are better, I think ;-) And I'm sure the plants don't care at all what we call them.
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