| Author | Aiton | |
| Distribution | This is a long-neglected entity, long subsumed under Viburnum nudum, that has been recognized as a full species by Spriggs et al. (2019). In NC it occurs in the southern Coastal Plain, the Sandhills, barely into the southern Piedmont, and a few southern Mountain counties.
Weakley (2020) states the range of this species is "Ne. NC (or se. VA?) south to n. FL, west to e. TX; rarely inland, as in w. NC." | |
| Abundance | Weakley's map shows V. nitidum to be "common" in the NC Coastal Plain, but "rare" in the Piedmont and Mountains. Sorrie has not seen it in the Piedmont and specimens at NCU agree. The website editors suggest a State Rank of S3? for now, but S4 might be more realistic. | |
| Habitat | "Bogs and swamps" (Weakley 2018). It occupies the most of the same habitats as V. nudum, and the two species have been collected growing together in Richmond County (Sorrie 10519 and 10520 NCU). However, as V. nudum has a much broader range across the state, that species can occur in most shaded wetland types -- whereas V. nitidum is confined more to strongly acidic wetlands such as in pocosin streamheads. | |
| Phenology | Probably blooms in April and May, and fruits from August to October. | |
| Identification | Spriggs et al. (2019) show that peduncle length is shorter in nitidum than in nudum: (mean 1.5 cm vs. 3.3 cm); leaf blade length is shorter in nitidum (mean 6.1 cm vs. 8.3 cm); and leaf blade width is narrower in nitidum (mean 2.0 cm vs. 3.8 cm). Also, Weakley (2022) says, for nitidum: "fruits pink to dark blue or black in late Jul-Aug", versus "fruits pale green to white in late Jul-Aug (later turning dark blue or black)" in nudum. Thus, where both frow together, V. nitidum will show smaller leaves (less than 1-inch wide) that are more pointed at the tip and flowers/fruit on shorter stalks, whereas V. nudum has "large" leaves clearly 1.5 inches or more in width. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | See above. Synonyms include V. cassinoides var. harbisoni McAtee and V. nudum var. angustifolium Torrey & A. Gray.
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| Other Common Name(s) | No common name seems to be online. Thus, as nitidum has an English meaning of "bright", "shining", etc., the website has given a tentative common name of Shining Viburnum, with the "shining" presumably referring to the uppersides of the leaves. | |
| State Rank | [S3?] | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
