by Jeffrey S. Pippen | Back to Jeff's Plant Page | Jeff's Nature Pages
Lauraceae > Lindera (spicebush) | |
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin var. pubescens) Orange Co., NC 17 Mar 2007 Common statewide in North Carolina in bottomlands and rich forests. | |
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin var. pubescens) Orange Co., NC 17 Mar 2007 Spring flowers are yellow and borne in clusters along the twigs before the leaves emerge. | |
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin var. pubescens) Orange Co., NC 6 Sep 2009 Leaves are simple, alternately arranged, fairly elliptic, and are quite fragrant when crushed. | |
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin var. pubescens) Orange Co., NC 6 Sep 2009 Fruits are drupes and are also fragrant, spicy, and edible. They have been used as a substitute for allspice. | |
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin var. pubescens) Orange Co., NC 6 Sep 2009 Leaf undersides are finely pubescent (hairy) in the variety found in the eastern half of NC. In the NC mountains is a different variety (var. benzoin) of Northern Spicebush with lacks the hairy leaves. | |
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin var. pubescens) Orange Co., NC 6 Sep 2009 | |
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin var. pubescens) Orange Co., NC 17 Mar 2007 Scratching the bark, especially of the twigs, and crushing the leaves offers a pleasant spice aroma. Note the bark displays prominent lenticels. |
Pondberry, Southern Spicebush (Lindera melissifolia) Sampson Co., NC 25 Mar 2006 In North Carolina, Pondberry is known only from three populations in the southeastern portion of the state. Pondberry is a federally and state listed endangered species. | |
Pondberry, Southern Spicebush (Lindera melissifolia) Sampson Co., NC 25 Mar 2006 Pondberry grows in wet depression areas like Carolina bays and is a much smaller shrub than Northern Spicebush. | |
Pondberry, Southern Spicebush (Lindera melissifolia) Sampson Co., NC 25 Mar 2006 | |
Pondberry, Southern Spicebush (Lindera melissifolia) Sampson Co., NC 25 Mar 2006 Bark of young and old stems. | |
Bog Spicebush (Lindera subcoriacea) Weymouth Woods State Park, Moore Co., NC 14 Mar 2007 An endangered species in North Carolina and a US Species of Concern, Bog Spicebush grows in "peaty seepage bogs in headwaters of blackwater streams, in the sandhills and immediately adjacent Piedmont," according to Weakley (2007). | |
Bog Spicebush (Lindera subcoriacea) Weymouth Woods State Park, Moore Co., NC 14 Mar 2007 Spicebush is dioecious, meaning plants are either male or female but not both. This is a female. | |
Bog Spicebush (Lindera subcoriacea) Weymouth Woods State Park, Moore Co., NC 14 Mar 2007 Twigs & vegetation have a lemon aroma when scratched. | |
Annotated habitat and distribution information listed above is from Radford, Ahles, & Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. UNC Press; Alan Weakley's Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia; and from personal observations and discussions with Will Cook, Harry LeGrand, and Bob Wilbur. Supplemental resources include USDA plants website, and NatureServe.
Created on ... Mar 16, 2007 | jeffpippen9@gmail.com