Spicebush

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Spicebush

Spicebush

Spicebush

Spicebush

Spicebush buds

Spicebush flowers

Spicebush fruit

Spicebush buds

Spicebush flowering

Spicebush flowers

Spicebush leaf

Morphology

Trunk

Single, much branched; branches usually low; bark light grayish-brown, smooth; lentils raised.

Twigs

Gray green to brown, glabrous or pubescent, spice-like fragrance when broken; lenticels vertical, conspicuous; leaf scar half-round; bundle scars 3. Buds single or clustered, greenish-brown, ovoid; one leaf bud near leaf scar, flower buds slightly above it.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous, strongly aromatic; petiole .4 to .5 inch; blade elliptic to obovate, 1.6 to 6 inches long, .8 to 2.4 inches wide, pinnately veined, base wedge-shaped, margins entire, often ciliate, tip short acuminate to rounded, upper surface dark green, glabrous, lower surface pale, glabrous to pubescent.

Flowers

Appear before the leaves, dioecious. Staminate flowers in dense, nearly sessile clusters from buds of previous year, calyx lobes 6, yellow, obovate, 1/10 to 1/8 inch, tips fringed; corolla absent; stamens 9, one opposite each calyx lobe plus an inner row of 3 each with pair of yellow stalked glands at base; filaments greenish; anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers in clusters on wood of previous year; calyx lobes 6, yellow, oblong to ovate, ca. 1/10 inch, corolla absent; staminodes 12-18; ovary green, ovate; stigma brownish, capitate.

Fruit

September; drupe, solitary or in clusters of 2-4, bright red, oblong, 2/5 to 1/2 inch long, 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick, smooth, glossy, ends blunt, 1-seeded, strongly aromatic; seed ellipsoid to ovoid, brownish with dark blotches.

Ecology

Habitat

Stream and river banks, low, moist woods, thickets, ravine bottoms, margins of wetlands; often in rich, moist soils

Distribution

Southeast corner of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

The fruits are eaten by migratory birds. Native Americans took decoctions or infusions of twigs and leaves for colds, coughs, measles, and to induce perspiration for aches and pains. A tea-like beverage was made from the leaves and twigs. According to Steyermark, the fruit was dried and powdered and used as allspice substitute during the Revolutionary War.

Additional Notes