Viburnum lantana L.
Eng.: Wayfaring-tree. Spa.: Morrionera, lantana. Fre.: Viorne macienne, viorne lantane.
Deciduous shrub, hermaphrodite, very ramose, up to 4 m in height. Crown rounded, slightly dense. Bark suberose, fissured, greyish-brown. Branches flexible, with rough and greyish bark. Branchlets yellowish-greenish because they are covered by a tomentum, especially the younger branchlets. Leaves (4-18 × 2.5-12 cm) opposite, thick, ovate-elliptical or almost rounded, ending in an obtuse tip, ± cordate, with finely dentate margin, deep green in colour and glabrous on the upper side, lighter and with some stellate hairs on the underside, rough to touch. Stipules absent. Flowers small (4-7 mm in diameter), densely grouped in corymbiform cymes, always upright. Corolla with 5 petals, white on the upper side, red on the underside; floral buds also red. Calyx with 5 rounded lobes. Stamens 5. Fruit an ovoid drupe, rounded, compressed, first very light green, almost yellow, then bright red and finally becoming blackish. Seed 1, very flattened.
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
August to October.
Habitat:
Forests (cedars, Portuguese and holm oaks) on cool and humid calcareous soils, therefore in North Africa it is only found in the middle and high mountains. From subhumid to hyperhumid bioclimate, on mesomediterranean and supramediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Mediterranean region and central Europe. In North Africa it is a very rare shrub, only known from some localities in Morocco (Middle Atlas and High Atlas) and Algeria in the Babors Massif (Little Kabylia).
Observations:
In North Africa and S of Spain var. glabratum Chabert is found, which differs basically from its European relatives in its scarce foliar pilosity.
Conservation status:
Common and widely distributed species; however, it is very rare in North Africa. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Algeria it is included in the List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).