Clearing Woods - Shrubs - Part 1 - Spicebush

Shrubs - Part 1 - Spicebush

Most woodlands have an understory of smaller trees and shrubs. Mine is no exception, but the palette is rather limited, I find. There are basically three species of woody plants and two or three brambles.

In addition to the dominant plants, I have found three baby Mahonia bealei, leatherleaf Mahonia, to my great delight. Despite Dirr's disparaging of them as coarse. I love them and have moved two to other garden beds; the third will get moved next spring.

Spicebush

Lindera benzoin is, without a doubt, the dominant shrub in my woodlands.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of them, from seedlings to their maximum size of eight to twelve feet (2.4 - 3.65 m) tall and wide.

I have read recommendations that this shrub be considered instead of "invasive" non-native plants. The number of specimens in my woodland prove to me that "native" does not necessarily mean non-invasive!

For years, we enjoyed the fall color and berries on two large plants growing on either side of our parking area, not knowing what they were. Fall color ranges from lemon to bright yellow. It's a brief, shining glory; the first strong wind after they color and the ground is golden while the branches are bare.

This is a plant whose identity eluded me for ages. I finally did some scans, put them on the web and sent a query to woodyplants email list. Almost instantly, the mystery was solved; my plants had a name.

Lindera benzoin is one of the thirty plus genera and two hundred to twenty-five hundred species in the family Lauraceae - the laurel family, found mostly throughout tropical and subtropical regions; especially diverse in south east Asia and northern South America.

Many of this family of trees and shrubs (with one genus of parasitic twining herbs) are of economic importance for their aromatic or edible qualities, including cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), bay leaf (Laurus nobilis), camphor (C. camphora), sassafras (Sassafras albidum) and avocado(Persea americana).

Deciduous multi-stemmed shrubs of loose, open, spreading habit, spicebushes get their common name from the scent released when leaves or stems are crushed.

Personally, I find the scent pleasant and sweet, but not really spicy. You are supposed to be able to use the leaves as a tea and chewing the twigs is said to be refreshing.

Native from Maine down through Florida and west to Kansas and east Texas, they are rated hardy from USDA zone 4 to 9.

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