I saw this plant blooming in a university garden back in late September, I thought it was a fragrant sumac but the blooms don't match now that I'm looking at it again. It's very cute and I'm curious as to what it is.



Apologies for no clear photo of the foliage

wow that image got compressed, here's a slightly clearer one

Viburnum?

Late September seems a strange time for Rhaphiolepis to be blooming, but that's what it looks like to me.

CalPolygardener said: Late September seems a strange time for Rhaphiolepis to be blooming, but that's what it looks like to me.

Hmmm the blooms look alot like a burkwood viburnum like Lucy68 suggested, but the leaves were more waxy like the Raphiolepis you mentioned. They were newly-installed on the site so they may have been a bit off-kilter in their bloom cycle.

Other parts of campus have used hawthorns like Raphiolepis indica in their landscaping, so I'm thinking a hawthorn of some kind. If a plant list is ever posted for the project, I'll check it out to maybe find exact cultivar

Cropped image of the above



Here's what I t think I can see;
Flowers with five corolla lobes / petals fused (sympetalous), seems there is shallow corolla tube. There are 5 stamens attached generally near the base of the corolla tube and are alternate to the corolla's lobe, so it will be positioned in between each petal lobes. The anthers are short with slender filaments. The stigma is very short and broad (or seems lobed-unclear in photos).
There are five persistent small sepals, that persist after petals falls off.

Those morphology are consistent with Viburnums

The leaves are unclear whether they are opposite or alternated, but the venation and margins are also consistent to Viburnums