Jenny

Sadly, the Wissahickon area of Philadelphia is a hotspot for garden escapes and other non-native plants. Have you noticed all the double-file Viburnums that bloom so nicely in the spring? And the Japanese maples in the understory?

A. spinosa has an "inflorescence with a distinct central axis," that is, one main stalk to the flower cluster. With elata, "central axis of the inflorescence very short or lacking" and the inflorescence has 3-8 spreading secondary branches.

On spinosa leaves, the veins of the leaflets do not run to the teeth; on elata, they do. Spinosa leaflets have a definite petiole, elata leaflets are sessile or nearly so.

Carol, I did make a mistake about the range of A. spinosa. According to Gleason and Cronquist's "Manual of Vascular Plants," the native range for spinosa is Delaware to south Indiana and Missouri, south to Florida and Texas. However, it is also introduced to New York, southern New England, and Michigan. "Plants of Pennsylvania" says spinosa is occaisional in the state, mostly in the western part.

Jenny

Roosevelt Park in south Philadelphia has some gems. The Philadelphia Botanical Club recently went there to look at the plants growing at the edges of ponds. There was surprising diversity of native species, and a few rare species -- not what you would expect when you first look at the park, given that it is mostly lawns, ballfields, and planted trees.

My aunt and uncle had one growing in their yard in Terryville Connecticut. They lived on the top of a hill with and open exposure, I would consider it a cold spot for sure.

The small tree was about 18 feet high and looked alot like the Frangipany we have here in Florida except the stem was much thicker and the branches and truck were covered with spines. The tree of coarse was deciduous but in the spring the flowers were lovely.

Thanks for bringing up the topic it opened up fond memories for me, thanks.

Jenny

I'm illogically enamored of butterfly bush...but I don't grow it.

Jenny

Eventually these viburnums would get taller than 6-8 feet, but they could be pruned back -- their growth rate is moderate, so pruning once a year should be enough.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Pennsylvania&statefips=42&symbol=ARSP2

Jenny

How about staghorn sumac? Nice fall color, short, berries (can be used for "lemonade")... Or, perhaps an American Mountain Ash?

I realize now that the pic at the USDA website IS of A. spinosa. The non-native and the native are SO MUCH ALIKE, it is confusing sometimes (like when you've had a couple of beers)!

Jenny

On a possibly more useful note, another small flowering shrub with wildlife benefit is Aronia melanocarpa (or Photinia melanocarpa), black chokeberry. The berries are less bitter than the taller red chokeberry; in fact, cultivars are grown commercially for the juice. I believe that the commercial cultivation is mainly in Europe (rather than eastern US where the plant is native).

I was interested in finding out the distinction between spinosa and elata, because I believe we've only encountered elata, but I wanted to make sure. Thanks for the help!

thank you so much for posting this information so that i could confirm that it is the native variety.

gerryld, if i recall, the branches do seem to all fall off over the winter. i never noticed the shrub until last year when it flowered and had outstanding berries. the birds went crazy. mine is also not really not suckering too much.