Tall shrub or small tree to 10 m; lvs thin, oblong to obovate, 5-12 cm, with mostly 8-11 pairs of fairly conspicuous lateral veins, obtuse to acute or abruptly short-acuminate
above, obtuse to rounded at base, sharply serrate with slender ascending teeth; racemes terminating leafy twigs of the season, 6-15 cm; pedicels 5-8 mm; sep broadly triangular to semi-circular, 1-1.5 mm, conspicuously glandular-erose, deciduous soon after anthesis; pet white, 4 mm, with subrotund blade; fr dark red or nearly black, 8-10 mm thick, astringent but edible; 2n=12. In a wide variety of habitats, from rocky hills and dunes to borders of swamps; Nf. to B.C., s. to N.C., Tex., and Calif. May, June. Ours is var. virginiana.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.