Alternate name: Squashberry
Family: Caprifoliaceae, Honeysuckle view all from this family
Description Straggling to erect shrub. Branches smooth, leafy. Leaves sometimes 3-lobed, always palmately veined. White flowers occur in dense, broad, flat-topped clusters on short branches. Fuit yellow, becoming red or orange in late fall.
Dimensions Height: 0.5-2.4 m. (1 1/2-8 ft.).
Habitat Watersides (fresh).
Range Mid-Atlantic, New England, Western Canada, Rocky Mountains, Eastern Canada, Great Lakes, Alaska, Northwest, Plains.
Discussion Viburnum edule, the squashberry, mooseberry, pembina, pimbina, highbush cranberry, lowbush cranberry or moosomin. Moosomin borowed from the Cree language meaning low-bush cranberry or squash berry. Many species of viburnum have become popular as garden or landscape plants because of their showy flowers and berries, fragrance, and good autumn colour of some forms. In prehistory, the long straight shoots of some viburnums were used for arrow-shafts, as those found with ÷tzi the Iceman.
Comments The fruit is highly valued for jam.
Exposure Preference Shade to partial shade.
Flower May - June
Native Distribution Labrador to Alaska, s. on mts. or cool slopes to n. New England, n.e. Minnesota, Colorado & n. Oregon
Site Preference Moist, wooded areas
Soil Preference Cool, moist soils.
Wildlife Value Fruit attracts gamebirds, songbirds and mammals.