
The pictured shrub, scientifically classified as Viburnum nudum — presumably for the smoothness of its shoots — has endured many a christening. Someone more focused on its fruit than its alleged nakedness named it “wild raisin” for summer berries that, in dramatic fashion, go from pink to purple-black. Another was so fascinated by its overall bendiness that they drummed up some old English and declared it a “withe-rod.” Still another, one can only imagine, was once scared sideways by a grinning marsupial hanging from its branch and lo: “possumhaw” was born. There don’t seem to be any recorded names related to its big white clusters of flowers, as seen this week around Blackwater Pond in Provincetown, but it’s probably too late in the game for something like “cauliflower bush” to catch on.