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| ## atlantic ninebark {#atlantic-ninebark .Title-Header}               |
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| *Physocarpus opulifolius* (L.) Maxim.                                 |
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| Plant Symbol = PHOP                                                   |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

### 

**Alternate common names**

Eastern ninebark, common ninebark

### Uses

Atlantic ninebark is cultivated in the US and in Europe for its foliage,
clusters of white flowers in the spring, and red fruits in the autumn.
Various cultivars have been selected for compactness of growth, yellow
or golden leaf color, and greater size and showiness of flower clusters.

Flowers of Atlantic ninebark are an excellent nectar source, and the
fruits are eaten by many species of birds.

*Physocarpus monogynus* of the southwestern US, was used by Indians to
relieve pain -- the roots were boiled to softness and placed on sores
and lesions as a poultice.

### Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

### Description

*General*: Rose Family (Rosaceae). Native shrubs growing 1-3 meters
tall, sometimes tree-like, with wide-spreading, recurved branches, the
twigs brown to yellowish, glabrous; bark brown to orangish, peeling into
thin strips or broader sheets on larger trunks. Leaves are deciduous,
alternate, simple, ovate to obovate or nearly round, 3-12 cm long, with
3(-5) shallow, palmate-veined lobes, basally truncate or cuneate, on
petioles 1-3 cm long, glabrous above and mostly so beneath but sometimes
with a sparse covering of stellate hairs beneath, with crenate or
dentate margins. Inflorescence of numerous flowers found in rounded
clusters 2.5-5 cm wide; flowers 7-10 mm wide, calyx cup-shaped, glabrous
or with stellate hairs, 5-lobed; petals 5, white or pinkish; styles 5;
stamens 30-40. Fruit is compressed but inflated, ovoid, 8-12 mm long,
shiny, red at maturity, glabrous or hairy, with papery but firm walls,
splitting along two sides, in clusters of (2-)3-5 per flower; seeds 2-4.
The common name comes from the bark, which continually molts in thin
strips, each time exposing a new layer of bark, as if it had "nine
lives." This species flowers in May-July and fruits in May-July.
![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.7958333333333334in"
height="1.863888888888889in"}

*Variation within the species*: two varieties are sometimes recognized
within the species. Var. *intermedius* (Rydb.) B.L. Robins. has fruits
that are persistently covered with stellate hairs, while var.
*opulifolius* has glabrous fruits. Var. *intermedius* is the more
western form, occurring from New York, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Missouri, and Arkansas to the westernmost localities for the species.
Var. *opulifolius* is broadly distributed in the east, to Minnesota and
Iowa, and in Canada from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Manitoba.
Intergradation in the fruit character makes it difficult to discern
clear distributional boundaries.

### Distribution

Atlantic ninebark occurs widely in eastern North America, in Canada from
Manitoba to the easternmost provinces, and in the US from Minnesota to
Arkansas (with outlying occurrences in Colorado, North Dakota and South
Dakota to Oklahoma) and eastward to the Atlantic states. It has not been
recorded from Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi. For current
distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on
the PLANTS Web site.

### Adaptation 

The plants are found on moist soils in thickets, along streams in sand
or gravel bars, and on rocky slopes and bluffs. Dirr (1997) observes
that "the species is adaptable to all conditions, probably even nuclear
attacks, and once established, requires a bulldozer for removal."

### Establishment

Atlantic ninebark can be propagated from cuttings or seeds, which
germinate without pre-treatment. It transplants readily and apparently
grows easily over a range of light, moisture, and acidity.

### Management

Information on fire response is not available for Atlantic ninebark, but
shrubs of the western US species *Physocarpus malvaceus* (Greene) Kuntze
readily re-sprout after intense surface burns (Lea & Morgan 1993).

### Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

### References

Dirr, M.A. 1997. *Dirr\'s hardy trees and shrubs: An illustrated
encyclopedia*. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.

Kurz, D. 1997. *Shrubs and woody vines of Missouri*. Missouri Dept. of
Conservation, Jefferson City, Missouri.

Lea, S.M. & P. Morgan 1993*. Resprouting response of ninebark
(Physocarpus malvaceus) shrubs to burning and clipping*. Forest Ecol.
Management. 56:199-210.

USDA, NRCS 1993. *Northeast wetland flora: Field office guide to plant
species*. Wetland Science Institute, Laurel, Maryland.

### Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

### Species Coordinator

## *Gerald Guala*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Edited 05dec00 jsp; 13feb03 ahv; 060803 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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