Withe-rod

Viburnum cassinoides

Pollinator Value

🔑 Keystone: Viburnum is a keystone genus supporting 103 lepidoptera species in eastern North America. As caterpillar host plants, viburnums underpin insect food webs critical to breeding bird populations. The genus supports major silk moths (Cecropia, Promethea, Io), sphinx moths, and numerous geometrid and noctuid species.
S13 103 lepidoptera species; S57 18 bird species
❄️ Winter Food Source: Persistent drupes transition from pink to blue to black and provide food for at least 18 bird species including Cedar Waxwing (40% diet by volume), Ruffed Grouse (major dietary component), American Robin, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Bluebird, Pine Grosbeak, and Wild Turkey. Fruit also consumed by Spruce Grouse, Willow Ptarmigan, Wood Duck, and several vireo species.
S57 18 bird species; S4 Songbirds, water birds, shorebirds, small mammals

Proximity Score: 0
Native Status: ✅ Outaouais ❌ Ottawa ✅ QC ✅ ON
Closest Direction: Local
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield, 5.2.3 – Algonquin/Southern Laurentians
Rarity Notes: Secure across its range (G5T5, N5 in both Canada and the US). Not listed under SARA or COSEWIC. Ranked S5 in both Ontario and Quebec. Widely distributed from the Maritimes to Wisconsin, south to Georgia.
S22 T5 globally, S5 in ON and QC; S26 not SARA listed
Rarity Ranks: QC S5 – Secure, ON S5 – Secure
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: A wetland-edge shrub of acidic swamps, bogs, and moist forests throughout the Mixed Wood Shield. In the Outaouais, specimens are documented from beaver meadows near Hull, Lac Deschenes, Templeton, and the Mer Bleu peatland complex. Associates with Acer and Populus in understory of mixed woods on moist sandy and organic soils adjacent to peat bogs.
S61 forests, swamps, wetland margins; S4 savannas, low wet woods, bogs; S48 specimen localities

Roles: wildlife food, pollinator support, wetland stabilization
S57 18 bird species; S69 Bombus terricola visits; S4 wet habitat

Category: Anticonvulsive, Diaphoretic, Febrifuge, Tonic, Oral Aid
S28 Cherokee Drug categories
Notes: Cherokee medicine used root bark as a diaphoretic and tonic, and prepared compound infusions for fever, smallpox, ague, and recurrent spasms. An infusion of bark was also applied as a wash for sore tongue.
S28 Cherokee Drug uses: Anticonvulsive, Diaphoretic, Febrifuge, Misc. Disease Remedy, Oral Aid, Tonic

✅ Edible

Foraging Notes: Fruit historically consumed by Abnaki and Algonquin peoples of Quebec. Abnaki used the fruit directly for food, while Algonquin of southwestern Quebec gathered berries. The common name 'wild raisin' refers to the sweetening of dried fruit, though it remains a foraged rather than cultivated food.
S28 Abnaki Food=Fruit, Algonquin QC Food=Fruit; S61 fruits called wild raisin