Why this?

This is a Viburnum dilatatum at Dawes. Note how only one portion of the plant is loaded with fruit. What would cause this? Could it be the shrub reverted around a cultivar? A sport? I'm not super familiar with dilatatums. Do the cultivars tend to fruit exceptionally greater than the species?

In looking more closely at this photo, I can see it isn't very good. The branches on the lower right of the shrub were easily twice as laden with fruit as the branches on the top (which look more heavily berried in the photo than they really were).

Scott

This message was edited Oct 4, 2006 7:06 PM

Scott:

Did you look closely up the plant's skirt?

I think you might be illustrating two plants grown together (one could be a seedling amongst an original plant), or two clones planted together to get ample pollination and fruiting (though an arboretum doesn't generally need to do that). It could be a sport as well; closer examination would reveal if it was all one plant, and if fruit/foliage/stem characters varied from the top part to the side part.

I haven't grown out any seedling V. dilatatum to fruiting size yet. I'd venture to say YES to the question, though. Clones are selected for a variety of reasons, and in viburnums like this fruit display is high on the list. Following would include additional reasons (I've been edited before for my descriptive choice); let's call it the Sixth Letter Of The Alphabet - ing List.

Fragrance
Floriferousness
Fecundity
Foliage
Fall color
Form

Enuff!

There also seems to be a slight difference in branching habit and leaf carriage. I'd guess it might be a grafted cultivar where the rootstock has started to take over.

Resin

Perhaps it was transplanted as a large B&B and then sat there for a few years before it finally started to grow again. This year it put on a vigorous vertical growth. The older branches, being at the bottom, performed better than the new top. Just a guess. I have seen V. Tom Var P. cultivars do that...

OK, back to reality. I'll go with grafted cultivar or two separate plants that Fused.

Resin, I am not seeing the different leaf carriage,as they seem to be drooping about the same. And if you look at both the top and bottom leaf tones, the coloration seems to be consistant between both groups. Shape is the same. The larger leaves on the top portion are not that much larger. I am not sure where this shrub is growing but if the growing season was simular to what we experienced here in Dueling V's favorite state: Michigan, having ample water and warmth, the growth spurt would be noticable.
Scott, do you know any of the history of this shrub, when it was planted, pruned, etc?

Patrick,

Unfortunately, I don't, although it is probably available at the arboretum. If I think of it next time I'm there, I'll look into it.

Scott

When in doubt, blame deer.

Not in your well fenced yard, eh Kevin. But I know what you mean.

Any chance a flock of Cedar Waxwings had stripped the top of the plant, but hadn't yet come back to finish the bottom?

Carla