Arrowwood grows in a variety of habitats including poorly drained riverine areas, stream banks, and bogs, as well as drier, well drained, upland woodlands and pine flatwoods. Viburnum dentatum var. scabrellum occurs in Florida from Hernando County northward to southwest Georgia, and westward to eastern Texas.
It has a multi-trunked habit, similar to wax myrtle, and attains a mature height of 9 to 12 feet. It will generally produce suckers that will eventually spread to form a thicket.
The leaves are opposite, simple, and ovate with the occasional lance shaped leaf. They are generally 2 – 3 inches wide and 3 – 4 inches long. The leaf margins are dentate, or toothed, and the tips of the teeth may be sharply pointed or blunt. The leaves have distinctive lateral leaf veins and the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves have a rough surface. The leaves may turn yellow, orange or purple in the fall.
Round topped clusters of small white flowers appear in the late spring – mid-May to early June in Central Florida. The individual flowers have five petals with five protruding stamens. The flowers provide a nectar source for many different insects including bees and wasps.