This spectacular bush comes in two varieties. The one that has become common in our woods is the fertile one, for obvious reasons, where the small inner flowers are surrounded by showy sterile flowers that attract the pollinators. In that form the plant is commonly called “Doublefile Viburnum.” Every so often, though, a plant pops up that has all sterile flowers, which form these white snowballs. These plants were blooming along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel, where the standard fertile form is very common.

Oddly, European botanists encountered this form of the plant first, so it was given the species name Viburnum plicatum, and the normal fertile form was called Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum. We still see that variety name used often to describe the Doublefile Viburnum.