Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin): Follow your nose!
Northern spicebush is a woody shrub that we find a lot while monitoring. It grows up to 3 m tall but is often smaller at our sites. It grows in rich, moist soils, so finding it in forested wetlands is not a surprise.
Northern spicebushes provide food for many birds and mammals and host many species of butterflies, such as spicebush swallowtails! Their leaves can be made into teas and their friuts can be used as an alternative to allspice.
In our previous blogs we’ve talked about leaf arrangement and mentioned leaf shapes as well. Many people think of a classic leaf as:
Oftentimes, a distinctive or uncommon leaf arrangement, margin, or shape can help clue us in to what plant we are seeing. For example, the opposite leaf arrangement of maples and ashes is not very common among trees and shrubs more generally, and the deep lobing of many oak leaves can help us set oaks apart.
In the case of northern spicebush, the leaves are simple, entire, alternate, and slightly obovate. This can make them difficult to identify straightaway unless you are very familiar with them. With this plant, it helps to follow your nose...
One of its most distinctive features is its spicy, citrusy scent! If I brush past a spicebush, I can smell it. You can also smell it by rubbing its leaves or twigs between your fingers. Many members of the lauraceae family to which northern spicebush belongs are fragrant as well. The leaves can also feel sticky.
In the springtime, northern spicebush has showy clusters of small, yellow flowers. In the late summer, you can see its bright red fruits. Its stems have raised lenticels (raised pores), that make the bark look bumpy.
Photo By: jstillman
Southern spicebush or pondberry (Lindera melissifolia) and bog spicebush (lindera subcoricea) are relatives of northern spicebush that also grow in wetlands, but are much rarer than northern spicebush. Both have pubescent (fuzzy) leaves that are more rounded than northern spicebush and bog spicebush grows in pocosin wetlands and bogs.
For more plant resources checkout this guide on wetland plants:
https://www.ncwetlands.org/plantguide/
Useful keys through the herbarium: https://herbarium.ncsu.edu/keysetc.htm
Plant key and more information about plant parts and leaf characteristics:
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/identification-of-common-trees-of-north-carolina
Don't forget to check out our our iNaturalist page to see all the plants we've found so far!
