Viburnum odoratissimum - Sweet Viburnum

Sweet Viburnum is an evergreen shrub or small tree reaching 10-15 m in height. Flowers appear after the leaves in pyramidal panicles, 6-13.5 x 4.5-6 cm, borne at branch ends or short lateral branchlets. The inflorescences lack large sterile radiant flowers. Individual flowers are small, fragrant, white turning yellowish or reddish with age, about 7 mm in diameter, with reflexed lobes and yellow oblong anthers. The tree has gray-brown bark and green or reddish young branchlets that are hairless or sparsely covered with yellow-brown star-shaped hairs. Older branchlets become grayish with scattered raised warts. Winter buds are ovoid-lanceshaped with 2-4 pairs of separate scales. Leaves are always opposite, leathery, glossy dark green above, elliptic to obovate or nearly round, measuring 7-20 x 4-9 cm. The leaf margins are irregularly sawtoothed except near the base, and the prominent pinnate veins form a distinct network. Leaf stalks are robust, 1-2 cm long. Fruits are initially red, later becoming blackish at maturity, ovoid to ellipsoid, about 8 x 5-6 mm, containing compressed pyrenes with a deep ventral groove. Sweet Viburnum is found in NE India to Central China and Central Malesia, Taiwan. Flowering: March-May.