The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: weeping possumhaw

Family: Aquifoliaceae (holly family)

Distribution: Species native to s.-c. and s.e. United States

Hardiness: USDA Zone 5

Life form: Deciduous shrub/Subshrub

Comments: A large deciduous shrub, potentially capable of growing 20' tall and probably as wide. Periodic pruning can keep it smaller or train it as a small tree. Branches are slightly weeping. Leaves hold on into late November. Small white flowers in spring, in the presence of a suitable male pollinator, produce rounded drupes which color bright red-orange, ripen in September and persist into winter. Fruits are a favored food source for birds. Best used as a specimen plant.