Straggling shrub 0.5-2 m, with glabrous or finely glandular stems and petioles; petioles 1-3 cm; lvs palmately veined, shallowly 3-lobed, 5-10 cm, sharply serrate, basally rounded to subcordate, sometimes some lvs lobeless and pinnately veined; cymes 1-2.5 cm wide, with less than 50 fls, mostly 5-rayed, short-peduncled; cor 4-7 mm wide; filaments to 1 mm; fr red, 1-1.5 cm; stone flattened, not grooved; 2n=18. Moist woods; Lab. to Alas., s. to Pa., Mich., Minn., Colo., and Ore. June, July. (V. pauciflorum; V. eradiatum)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.