The word wahoo, refers to Euonymus atropurpureus. The word comes from the Dakota Indian word wanhu, – arrowwood. It is also known as burning bush and spindle tree.
The straight, round, smooth, small branches would make good arrows. A plus for the western Indians who used them.
Not A Dioecious Plant
It is not a dioecious plant. That is, it does not have stamens and pistils on separate plants like the hollies and many others in which only the female plants bear fruits.
All wahoos bear a great many fruits that look somewhat like bittersweet berries when they burst open.
Scarlet Berries
The scarlet berries are colorful. When cut they can be arranged more easily than bittersweet which is a vine.
Wahoo: Shrub Tree
Wahoo is a shrub or small tree up to about 25 ft tall. The leaves turn yellow in the fall. The flowers are dull purple and inconspicuous, produced in early summer, but the fruits or berries on slender stems are showy.
They last a long time when cut. Birds are fond of them and will strip the trees in a few days when they discover the berries.
This wahoo is a hardy native from New York west and south, to the Dakotas and Oklahoma.
Varieties of Wahoo
There are other varieties of wahoo, such as Euonymus alatus, which has a corky, ridged bark and bears reddish fruits while the leaves turn a brilliant cerise in the fall.
A variety of it known as compacta bears few berries, but is equally colorful in the fall, and is more compact.
The alatus is less hardy than the western wahoo. Although thought hardy throughout New England it was damaged there by the unusual deep freeze last November.
44659 by H. Roy Mosnat