Nannyberry Terminal Buds
Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) is a native woodland shrub in the genus Viburnum. Nanny goats apparently feed on the ripe fruit (reportedly more so than billy goats), hence the common name. It is also known as Wild Raisin due to the appearance of its dark fruit when dried.
Like all viburnums, Nannyberry has opposite-branching leaves and flowers in umbrella-shaped clusters, called umbels. One trait that keeps it from looking like every other woodland shrub in the winter is the distinctive shape of its terminal buds. There are two scales protecting the bud, whose edges meet. Some compare the shape of this bud to the bill of a goose, but I find it far more graceful.
Grouse, robins, catbirds, cardinals, bluebirds, waxwings, grosbeaks and finches feed on Nannyberry’s clusters of blue-black berrylike drupes. Humans also consume the fruit, usually in the form of jams and jellies.
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Hobblebush Flowering
When scouring the forest floor for spring ephemerals, don’t forget to look up – one of the most dramatic flowers of spring can be found on a woodland shrub called Hobblebush, Celastrina ladon. (The common name comes from the fact that its branches often bend to the ground and become rooted at the tips, making a walk through the wood somewhat treacherous…hence, one of its other common names, “Trip-toe.”) Hobblebush’s flowers are cleverly designed to attract pollinators — the large, showy, white flowers along the margins are actually sterile, their sole purpose being to lure insects, such as the tiny, blue Spring Azure butterfly. The smaller, less conspicuous flowers in the center of the cluster (just starting to open in this photograph) have reproductive parts and are the beneficiaries of visiting pollinators.
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