This shrub is widespread on damp sites across southeastern and Atlantic states, plus disjunct populations on the south side of the Great Lakes (K). It is closely related to the more widespread species, corymbosum, which tends to occur on drier sites, and these taxa have been combined by some authors (FNA 8). Intergradation is expected in western regions of Ky., and uncertain records mapped with open dots under corymbosum need to be reassessed. V. fuscatum differs in its black berries (versus blue); leaves pubescent below, typically with "dingy" brownish hairs (versus glabrous or thinly pubescent with whitish hairs); buds and twigs with brown to blackish hue (versus flesh to reddish).