Eastern Sweetshrub

Description:

Eastern sweetshrub or Carolina allspice is a 6-12 ft., deciduous shrub with glossy, aromatic, leathery, dark-green foliage. Its erect, multiple stems create a rounded outline. Terminal blossoms are solitary and dark red with numerous overlapping, strap-like petals. Flowers are often quite fragrant. Leaves become yellow in fall but are usually not showy. Calycanthus floridus is very resistant to disease and insect problems. It has a prolific suckering habit, adapts to many soils, and grows taller in shaded places.

Habitat:

Wood openings & edges; stream banks; moist hillsides. This one was photographed along the walking trail at Wildcat Branch Falls along SC Hwy 11 in Greenville County, SC.

Notes:

It is also called Carolina allspice and Sweet shrub.