Spicebush
Scientific name: Lindera benzoin
Part of the Laurel Family, these native shrubs grow mostly 6-12 feet tall, although sometimes reach the size of a small tree. Over 20 species of birds, as well as deer, rabbits, raccoons, and opossums have been recorded as browsing the leaves or eating the fruits. The fruits are a special favorite of wood thrushes. The spicebush swallowtail, Papilio troilus (L.), lays its eggs on spicebush and other plants in the Laurel Family – sassafras, redbay, and camphortree. There apparently are no commercial uses of spicebush, but the essential oils of leaves, twigs, and fruits have lent themselves for minor use for tea, and dried fruits have been used in fragrant sachets. Native Americans used dried fruits as a spice and the leaves for tea. Extracts have been used for drugs, including anti-arthritic, diaphoretic, emetic and herbal steam. The benzoin of drug trade is produced by species of Styrax (Styraceae).
Leaves
Leaves alternate on the branchlets, up to 6 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide, upper surface dark green, lower surface lighter in color, obovate, tapering more gradually to the base than to the tip, tip somewhat extended margins without teeth or lobes.
Fruit
Fruit is a short-stalked, ellipsoid, shiny red berry 2-4 inches long, with a single seed. The common name refers to the sweet, spicy fragrance of the stems, leaves, and fruits when bruised.
Flowers
Flowers appearing before the leaves, in clusters on nodes of last year’s growth, either staminate (having pollen-producing stamens) or pistillate (having pistils but no stamens). Flowering: March-April; fruits maturing August-October/November.
Good to Know
Leaves turn a colorful golden-yellow in fall. In the North this plant is thought of as the “forsythia of the wilds” because its early spring flowering gives a subtle yellow tinge to many lowland woods where it is common. A tea can be made from the aromatic leaves and twigs.
Because of its habitat in rich woods, early land surveyors and settlers used spicebush as an indicator species for good agricultural land.
Habitat
Spicebush is primarily an understory species, sometimes forming thickets, of rich, mesic sites on acidic to basic soils. Common habitats are low woods, swamp margins, and streamsides.
Spicebush plants make nicely shaped shrubs with deep green leaves and, if in at least partial sun, the leaves turn bright yellow in the fall. It is a good choice for plantings in shady locations but can also grow in full sun. Moist soil is best.
Leaves
Leaves alternate on the branchlets, up to 6 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide, upper surface dark green, lower surface lighter in color, obovate, tapering more gradually to the base than to the tip, tip somewhat extended margins without teeth or lobes.
Fruit
Fruit is a short-stalked, ellipsoid, shiny red berry 2-4 inches long, with a single seed. The common name refers to the sweet, spicy fragrance of the stems, leaves, and fruits when bruised.
Flowers
Flowers appearing before the leaves, in clusters on nodes of last year’s growth, either staminate (having pollen-producing stamens) or pistillate (having pistils but no stamens). Flowering: March-April; fruits maturing August-October/November.
Ecosystem Connections
Seeds are dispersed as animals and birds eat the fruits. Seeds germinate in the litter layer in the spring or they may remain viable in the seed bank for many years.
Spicebush in Summer
Credit: William Avery Hudson
Spicebush Flower Clusters
Credit: James L. Reveal
Spicebush Leaves & early Berries
Credit: Julie Makin
More on Trees and Shrubs in Lewisboro
Lewisboro was once entirely forested except for patches of open field caused by fire and wetlands and ponds which were expanded by beaver dams. Although it is hard to believe, by 1800 most of Lewisboro’s forests had been cut down and replaced by farms. In 1820 so many trees had been cleared that there was no shade anywhere along the route from Boston to New York.[1] But by the mid-1800’s farming here became uneconomical and as farms were abandoned, the forests began to re-grow. Today, 70% of New York is once again forest, what some call ‘the great environmental story of the United States’[2]. These new forests provide us with beauty and recreation, clean air and water, flood control, erosion prevention, carbon sequestration, cooler temperatures and habitat for other plants, insects, birds and other wildlife.
[1] Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. Macmillan, 1983.
[2] An Explosion of Green. B. Mckibben. Atlantic Monthly 275 (April 1995): 61-83.