Tall shrub, to 10 feet tall. Leaves opposite each other, round, pointed with sharp teeth and embossed veins. Flowers of two kinds, both white. Small fertile flowers with five petals, surrounded by large, showy, sterile flowers with 4 large petals and one tiny one. Flowers are arranged in two rows along the branches, hence the common name. Blooms in mid spring. Fruit a brilliant red berry turning to black as it matures in the fall.

A native of China, commonly cultivated for its showy sterile flowers and brilliant berries. In Wildwood a small population on an island in Connelly's Run.

Unmistakeable in bloom or in fruit. The rotund, embossed, toothed leaves are also distinctive. Wild hydrangea also (usually) has showy sterile flowers, but the flowers are in rounded clusters, not rows.