Linden Viburnum

Viburnum dilatatum Thunb.
Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae)

Origin: Korea and eastern Asia

Background
Linden viburnum was introduced in the early 1800s as an ornamental.

Mary Travaglini, TNC

Bill Johnson

Distribution and Habitat
It occurs in scattered locations throughout the mid-Atlantic region from New York to Virginia and has been reported to be invasive in natural areas in Virginia. It grows in disturbed forests and wetlands.

Ecological Threat
Shrubs can grow over 15 ft. high in thickets that cast dense shade, suppressing native shrubs, small trees and herbaceous vegetation. A dense cover of young plants produced from seed and vegetative re-growth often blankets the ground in infested areas. Linden viburnum leafs out earlier in the spring and keeps its leaves later into the fall than most native vegetation, giving it a competitive advantage.

Description and Biology

• Plant: scruffy multi-stemmed deciduous shrub, upright to rounded, 8-10 ft. tall by 6-10 ft. across.
• Leaves: opposite, dark green, shiny, with shallowly toothed margins, nearly round to straplike, 2-5 in. long by 1-2½ in. wide; usually covered in soft hairs; leaves drop relatively late in the fall.
• Flowers, fruits and seeds: small creamy white flowers in numerous flattened clusters 3-5 in. wide; May to early June; fruits are bright red, flattened spheres, about 1/3 in. wide.
• Spreads: by seed that is consumed and spread by birds.
• Look-alikes: other viburnums and other opposite-leaved shrubs.

Prevention and Control
Do not plant linden viburnum. Cutting should be avoided in spring because cut branches can reproduce by layering (when a new plant forms from development of roots on a stem attached to the parent plant). Use of a systemic herbicide containing glyphosate or triclopyr will prevent resprouting (see Control Options). Seedlings can be pulled up by hand. Seed heads should be removed from mature plants to prevent seed dispersal and seedling establishment.

Native Alternatives
Native shrubs including American cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum), Southern arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum), mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium), red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), and winterberry (Ilex verticillata) would make great substitutes for this invasive plant.