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Viburnum betulifolium; photograph (c) Jaw-Jian La, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jaw-Jian La, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-05-23

Viburnum betulifolium Batalin

Birchleaf viburnum

Viburnaceae · China South-Central, Inner Mongolia +4

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Viburnum betulifolium, photograph (c) 林孫鋒(Lin Sun Fong), some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Viburnum betulifolium, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedViburnum betulifolium, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedViburnum betulifolium, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedViburnum betulifolium, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedViburnum betulifolium, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 55 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
-0.9°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
18°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,220mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
17–34DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Viburnum betulifolium, the birchleaf viburnum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Viburnaceae, native to China and the island of Taiwan. Shade tolerant, it is often dominant in the shrub layer of the forests in which it occurs. Widely cultivated outside of China, it has attractive bronze to burgundy Autumn foliage, and the masses of bright red berries are attractive to birds. It is hardy to USDA zone 4.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Viburnum betulifolium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Viburnum

Viburnum is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the family Viburnaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the family Caprifoliaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Viburnum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,292 mm of 3,123 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 13.8 °C against a yearly mean of 10.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

3,123 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,292 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 476 mm, driest month December at 86 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,650 mm to 4,145 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,220 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,123 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -0.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -7.9 °C to 2.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 18.4 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is -0.9 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Viburnum betulifolium through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 18 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -0.9 °C; 3,123 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°frost°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 17–34RH 61–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 22 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C7 / 1–108 / 3–1211 / 7–1514 / 11–1816 / 13–2017 / 15–2118 / 16–2218 / 16–2216 / 15–1814 / 12–1611 / 8–148 / 3–11
Night °C-1 / -8–20 / -6–43 / -2–66 / 3–98 / 6–1110 / 8–1311 / 8–1511 / 8–1510 / 8–127 / 5–104 / 0–70 / -5–4
Rain mm93 / 31–115175 / 49–191179 / 89–194197 / 97–287341 / 144–524405 / 231–643403 / 304–644445 / 316–716476 / 220–572222 / 148–297101 / 42–13586 / 19–99
DLI18 / 16–2520 / 18–3025 / 24–3529 / 28–3830 / 29–3530 / 29–3234 / 28–3631 / 29–3227 / 24–2824 / 20–2720 / 17–2317 / 15–22
RH %62 / 57–6564 / 59–6763 / 60–6663 / 61–6665 / 61–6665 / 63–6765 / 61–6966 / 63–6967 / 65–6964 / 62–6862 / 59–6661 / 56–64

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1447 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -13.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.8 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 22 grid cells holding the 60 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1317:6025 (24.125, 121.275). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 22 distinct grid cells holding 60 of the 60 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1317:6025 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.00_121.250, lapse-corrected +1447 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2770 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Taiwan · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker31.37, 109.63 · in the densest population, 287 records (64% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 449 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 60 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 192 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 389 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 449 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Viburnum betulifolium, photograph 1did not loadViburnum betulifolium, photograph 2did not loadViburnum betulifolium, photograph 3did not loadViburnum betulifolium, photograph 4did not loadViburnum betulifolium, photograph 5did not loadViburnum betulifolium, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) 林孫鋒(Lin Sun Fong), some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (5).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Aletris glabra Aletris glabra Glabrous colicroot Photo: CC BY, Rick ChouAngelica morii Angelica morii Apiaceae Photo: CC BY, 謝鈞諭Ribes formosanum Ribes formosanum Grossulariaceae Photo: CC BY, Jaw-Jian LaGentiana arisanensis Gentiana arisanensis Alishan gentian Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Gentiana scabrida Gentiana scabrida Gentianaceae Photo: CC BY, aforest_twHypericum nagasawae Hypericum nagasawae Hypericaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好

Other Viburnum 76 in the reference

Viburnum acerifolium Viburnum acerifolium Dockmackie Photo: CC BY, Natalie Waddell-RutterViburnum atrocyaneum Viburnum atrocyaneum Viburnaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, peganum from Henfield, England Viburnum awabuki Viburnaceae Viburnum bracteatum Viburnum bracteatum Bracted arrowwood Photo: CC0, author not statedViburnum buddleifolium Viburnum buddleifolium Buddlejaleaf viburnum Photo: CC BY, Maja DumatViburnum burejaeticum Viburnum burejaeticum Manchurian viburnum Photo: CC BY, Tatyana PetrenkoViburnum carlesii Viburnum carlesii Korean spice viburnum Photo: CC BY, donbullViburnum cassinoides Viburnum cassinoides Wild raisin Photo: CC BY, Eli Talhouk Viburnum chingii Viburnaceae Viburnum cinnamomifolium Viburnum cinnamomifolium Viburnaceae Photo: Public domain, Daderot Viburnum corylifolium Viburnaceae Viburnum cotinifolium Viburnum cotinifolium Indian wayfaring tree Photo: CC BY, Sagnik Dutta Roy all 77 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Viburnum adenophorum; Viburnum betulifolium f. aurantiacum; Viburnum betulifolium var. betulifolium; Viburnum betulifolium var. flocculosum; Viburnum flavescens and 15 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Viburnum dasyanthum; Viburnum hupehense; Viburnum lobophyllum: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Viburnaceae
Described by
Batalin
Native to
China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central +3
Wild records
449 in range · 192 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.00_121.250, lapse-corrected +1447 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1447 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 31 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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