Plant Family: Adoxaceae
Growth Form: Large shrub to small tree up to 10 meters high.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, ovate to elliptic, apex abruptly long-pointed, margins wavy with many small sharp teeth; the petioles may also be finely toothed.
Bark: Gray or brown with rough scales.
Flowers: Small, white, in flattened unstalked cymes up to 12 cm across; the yellow tipped stamens are long and showy; May to June.
Fruits: Ellipsoid blue-black drupes with a sweet pulp, August into October.
Habitat: Woodland edges, along streams, thickets.
Range: Throughout New England (except Cape Cod and the Islands), north into Canada and west to the Dakotas.
Similar Species: Witherod has leaf margins with rounded teeth or that lack teeth entirely, and the flower cluster is stalked.
