''Viburnum tinus'', the laurustinus, laurustine or laurestine, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Adoxaceae,

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...

to the Mediterranean area of Europe and North Africa. ''Laurus'' signifies the leaves' similarities to

bay laurel ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking. ...

Description

It is a shrub (rarely a small tree) reaching tall and broad, with a dense, rounded crown. The leaves are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

, persisting 2–3 years, ovate to elliptic, borne in opposite pairs, 4–10 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, fine hairs persisting on the underside, with an entire margin. The flowers are small, white or light pink, produced from reddish-pink buds in dense

cymes An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

5–10 cm diameter in the winter. The fragrant flowers (some consider the fragrance offensive, especially after rain when it is very strong) are bisexual (monoecious - having both male and female parts on one plant) and

pentamerous Merosity (from the greek "méros," which means "having parts") refers to the number of component parts in a distinct whorl of a plant structure. The term is most commonly used in the context of a flower where it refers to the number of sepals in a w ...

. The flowering period is in winter, or from October to June in the northern hemisphere. The five petals are tubular, with rounded,

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

lobes, pink in the bud but later white. There is only one circle with five

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s. Pollination is by insects. The fruit is a dark blue-black

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kerne ...

5–7 mm long. A 2020 study of the fruit's metallic blue hue revealed microscopic globules of fat to be the cause, an example of

structural color Structural coloration in animals, and a few plants, is the production of colour by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light instead of pigments, although some structural coloration occurs in combination wit ...

, which is unusual in plants. The leaves have

domatia A domatium (plural: domatia, from the Latin "domus", meaning home) is a tiny chamber that houses arthropods, produced by a plant. Ideally domatia differ from galls in that they are produced by the plant rather than being induced by their inhabi ...

where predatory and microbivorous

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

s can be housed.

Distribution and Habitat

Native to the

Mediterranean Region In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and ...

, ''Viburnum tinus'' prefers shady, moist areas. It is most commonly found in the western Mediterranean due to a shorter drought season and is one of the dominant species of Mediterranean

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

ous shrubland. It has also been introduced to Australia,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

and

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

Cultivation

''Viburnum tinus'' is widely cultivated for its winter blooms and metallic blue berries. It is hardy down to . The

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s ‘Eve Price’, ‘French White’ and ‘Gwenllian’ have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (No ...

’s

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Other uses

''V. tinus'' has been used for its traditional medicinal properties, for example in Pakistan. The active ingredients are viburnin (a substance or more probably a mixture of compounds) and tannins. Tannins can cause stomach upset. The leaves when infused have

antipyretic An antipyretic (, from ''anti-'' 'against' and ' 'feverish') is a substance that reduces fever. Antipyretics cause the hypothalamus to override a prostaglandin-induced increase in temperature. The body then works to lower the temperature, which r ...

properties. The fruits have been used as purgatives against constipation. The tincture has been used lately in herbal medicine as a remedy for depression. The plant also contains

iridoid Iridoids are a type of monoterpenoids in the general form of cyclopentanopyran, found in a wide variety of plants and some animals. They are biosynthetically derived from 8-oxogeranial. Iridoids are typically found in plants as glycosides, m ...

glucosides.

Pests

In south-east Britain ''Viburnum tinus'' is the principal host of the viburnum beetle (''

Pyrrhalta viburni ''Pyrrhalta viburni'' is a species of leaf beetle native to Europe and Asia, commonly known as the viburnum leaf beetle. It was first detected in North America in 1947 in Ontario, Canada. However, specimens had been collected in Annapolis Royal, ...

''), the country's "number one pest species" according to the

Etymology

The generic name of the plant derives from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

referring to

Viburnum lantana ''Viburnum lantana'', the wayfarer or wayfaring tree, is a species of ''Viburnum'', native to central, southern and western Europe (north to Yorkshire in England), northwest Africa, and southwestern Asia.Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flo ...

. The specific name derives from Latin referring to the plant itself, Viburnum tinus.

References

External links

Flora Europaea: ''Viburnum tinus''
*Eriksson, O., et al. 1979. Flora of Macaronesia: checklist of vascular plants * Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia – Edagricole – 1982, Vol. II, pag. 639
Biolib

Viburnum tinus

Gallery

Viburnum tinus DT1.JPG, Plant MHNT Viburnum tinus.jpg, Inflorescence Caprifoliaceae - Viburnum tinus.JPG, Close-up on flowers Άγουροι καρποί βιβούρνου του κοινού.jpg, Unripe fruits Caprifoliaceae - Viburnum tinus-1 (2).JPG, Ripe fruits Caprifoliaceae - Viburnum tinus-3.JPG, Close-up on fruits Caprifoliaceae - Viburnum tinus (2).JPG, Leaf {{Taxonbar, from=Q1321268 tinus Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Western Asia Medicinal plants Garden plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus