Eastern Wahoo                   u-ON-i-mus at-ro-per-PU-re-us

• Deciduous shrub or small tree, 12-25 ft (3.5-7.5 m) tall, wide, flat-topped irregular crown.  Leaves simple, opposite, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 4-12 cm long, acuminate tip, margin serrulate, dark green, pubescent below, may show reddish purple color in fall; petiole 1-2 cm long.  Flowers purple, about 1 cm across, clusters have 7-15 on a slender branched stalks, 2-4.5 cm long.  Fruit crimson, smooth, to 1.5 cm wide, deeply 4-lobed, opening to expose a scarlet aril covering a brown seed.  
• Sun to part shade.  
• Hardy to USDA Zone 4    Native to range from New York to Florida and west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
• atropurpureus: atro, dark, purpureus, purple.