crampbark

9.9

A shrub that loses its leaves in winter and grows white flowers and bright red berries

noun

: viburno

The crampbark in our garden blooms with delicate white flowers every spring.

Examples

The crampbark shrub has beautiful white flowers in spring.
You can often find crampbark growing in thickets along hedgerows and woodland edges.
Clusters of bright red berries make crampbark easy to spot in the wild.
Traditional herbalists often recommend crampbark for natural remedies.
I saw a crampbark plant in the garden yesterday.
The crampbark shrub produces clusters of bright red berries during the summer.
In early spring, the crampbark showcases its lovely white flowers before the leaves appear.

Synonyms

guelder rose

vscrampbark

1 9.1

A bush with white flowers and bright red berries often grown in gardens

is mainly a wild thicket shrub rather than a cultivated ornamental

Viburnum opulus

vscrampbark

Specialized

9.9

A bush with clusters of white flowers and bright red berries that loses its leaves in winter

is the common wild shrub found in thickets rather than the formal species name

European cranberrybush

vscrampbark

8.9

A bush with clusters of white flowers and small bright red berries

is described as the same shrub but noted for growing in thickets

Surface Forms

crampbark singular

crampbarks plural

Morphology

crampbark = cramp + bark (semi-transparent) = cramp + bark

The components 'cramp' and 'bark' are recognizable, but the specific botanical name referring to a shrub (named for medicinal bark) is specialized and not fully predictable for an average learner.

Etymology

Crampbark comes from the two plain words cramp and bark, because people once used the plant's bark to help with 'cramps' or 'sudden pain in muscles', so the name points to the part of the shrub that was used as a medicine.