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     Viburnums, Viburnum L., are easily overlooked understory trees and shrubs.  They are apparently not even considered for champion tree recognition in Alabama even if significantly exceeding the minimum size requirements.  I had heard of viburnums, but I could not put a name to one until I took a dendrology class where I learned that a tree I recognized was in fact rusty blackhaw, V. rufidulum Raf.  It is barely distinguishable from black haw, V. prunifolium L., with clumps of rust colored hair on the underside of the leaves being the most obvious key for the former.  Other viburnums include maple-leaf viburnum, V. acerifolium L., possumhaw, V. nudum L., and arrowwood, V. dentatum L.  The most obvious key to distinguish maple-leaf viburnum from maples, Acer L., is the flowers and fruit that consist of a terminal cluster of white flowers and bluish black drupes.  The fruits are similar on all the viburnums, which have a local colloquial name of wild raisin.  The ones most notable for being edible are squashberry, V. edula (Michx.) Raf., and highbush cranberry, V. trilobum Marsh., that is considered to be synonymous with  V. opulus L. var. americanum Aiton where V. opulus L. is the European cranberrybush that has a familiar sterile cultivar known as snowball bush while the Japanese snowball, V. plicatum Thunb., has different leaves.  Inflorescences with sterile flowers are often more attractive like those of both Hydrangea L. and many genera in the aster family, Asteraceae, such as sunflowers, Helianthus L., where the sterile flowers such as those on the fringe of the flower head are usually the only ones with petals in both cases.  Possumhaw is a common name that also refers to deciduous holly, Ilex decidua Walt., while the viburnum is also known as witherrod.  There are several other species of arrowwoods that have botanical differences so subtle that habitat and range are better identification keys.  One of these with a limited range centered in northeast Alabama is limerock arrowwood, V. bracteatum Rehder, also know as bracted arrowwood due to a key identification feature of persisting bracts on the inflorescence, although the bracts are not evident in this photo due to the angle.  It is listed as endangered in both Georgia and Tennessee.  The type locality is near Rome, Georgia, and has been virtually wiped out by quarries along with other populations in the Coosa River Valley, but the common name has led to the mistaken belief that the type locality is the small community of Limrock, Alabama, which in near the center of the range and may have undocumented populations considering how the habitat it correct.  The first specimen I was shown was in the Paint Rock watershed, but it has since been sprayed with a defoliant by the state highway department.  The Walls of Jericho has one of the three known populations of limerock arrowood in Tennessee.  Downy arrowwood, V. rafinesqueanum Schult., and softleaf arrowwood, V. molle Michx., are the other two species of arrowwood that verifiably overlap at least parts of the range of limerock arrowwood.