Hydrangea arborescens, commonly known as Smooth Hydrangea, Wild Hydrangea, or Sevenbark, is a small to medium sized, deciduous shrub up to 3 m tall that is native to the eastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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Range/Habitat

Smooth hydrangea is widely distributed across the eastern United States—from southern New York to the panhandle

Panhandle

A panhandle is an informal geographic term for an elongated arm-like protrusion of a geo-political entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.-Term:...

 of Florida, west to eastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas. It is mainly found in moist soils under a hardwood forest canopy and is often common along woodland road banks and streams. It is common in the Delaware River

Delaware River

The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...

 Valley and in the Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

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Taxonomy

At one time both ashy hydrangea (Hydrangea cinerea

Hydrangea cinerea

Hydrangea cinerea is a small to medium sized, deciduous shrub up to 3 m tall; its natural range is interior regions of the southeastern United States...

) and silverleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea radiata

Hydrangea radiata

Hydrangea radiata is an attractive, deciduous shrub up to 3 m tall; its natural range is limited to the southern Appalachians, where it is fairly common...

) were considered subspecies of smooth hydrangea. However, most taxonomist now consider them to be separate species.

Characteristics

The inflorescence of smooth hydrangea is a corymb. The showy, sterile flowers are usually absent or if present they are usually less than 1 cm in diameter. Flowering occurs May to July. Fruit is a ribbed brown capsule about 2 mm long; many are produced.

The leaves of smooth hydrangea are large (8 to 18 cm long), opposite, serrated, ovate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

, and deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

. The lower leaf surface is glabrous or with inconspicuous fine hairs, appearing green; trichome

Trichome

Trichomes are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants and certain protists. These are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae.- Algal trichomes :...

s of the lower surface are restricted to the midrib and major veins.

The stem bark

Bark

Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...

 has a peculiar tendency to peel off in several successive thin layers with different colors, hence the common name "sevenbark".

Smooth hydrangea can spread rapidly by stolon

Stolon

In biology, stolons are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external skeletons.-In botany:...

s to form colonies.

Uses

This attractive native shrub is often cultivated for ornamental use. 'Annabelle' is the best known cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

 of this species; it is one of the most cold hardy of the hydrangeas. The cultivar ‘Grandiflora’ has flowers that resemble snowball

Snowball

A snowball is a spherical object made from snow, usually created by scooping snow with the hands, and compacting it into a roughly fist-sized ball. The snowball is often used to engage in games, such as snowball fights. Snowball fights are usually light-hearted and involve throwing snowballs at...

s, similar to Viburnum

Viburnum

Viburnum is a genus of about 150–175 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny...

 plicatum.

Smooth hydrangea was used medicinally by Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

s, and later, by early settlers for treatment of kidney and bladder stones.

External links

• Cook, Will (compiler). Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of North Carolina. Duke University. Wild Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens).
• Information on cultivar Annabelle
• Hydrangea arborescens Large-format diagnostic photos and information
• Hydrangea Thoughts I - Informative but non-scholarly essay on Hydrangea (Culture, History and Etymology).
• Briartech.com: Smooth Hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens.