Viburnum plicatum

Viburnum plicatum Thunb. (China and Japan) – A very rare escape from or relic of cultivation (or perhaps a mere throw-out). A single shrub was observed in deciduous woodland in Lozer (Kruishoutem; Lozerbos) in 2013. Since then recorded in two additional localities, in Kessel (Nijlen) and Genk. This species seems to persist well but reproduction has not been recorded so far.

This showy ornamental is commonly planted, but, so far, seems to be a rare escape from cultivation. In the United States it recently started escaping, see for instance: Angelo & Boufford (2014), Reznicek & al. (2014), etc.

Selected literature:


Angelo R. & Boufford D.E. (2014) Atlas of the flora of New England: Families of vols. 17 & 18: Flora of North America. Phytoneuron 2014-21: 1-21. [available online at: http://www.phytoneuron.net/2014Phytoneuron/21PhytoN-NEAtlas12.pdf]

Reznicek A.A., Voss E.G. & Walters B.S. (2014) Michigan Flora Online. University of Michigan (accessed on January 29, 2014): http://www.michiganflora.net/species.aspx?id=21.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith