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Common Name: Sweet Betsy, Sweet Shrub
Other Names: Bubby-bush and Carolina Allspice
Genus: Calycanthus floridus
Family Name: Calycanthaceae
Serendipity Ranch
Columbus, North Carolina
April 17, 2002
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This native shrub, often widely planted as an ornamental, has opposite, deciduous leaves that vary in color and texture. The flowers are an inch or more broad and have a spicy fragrance; the seeds are poisonous. A plant of the southeastern U.S., this shrub is found on hills and stream banks at the margins of deciduous woodlands chiefly in our upper piedmont and mountains. March-June [Justice, William S. and Bell, C. Ritchie, Wild Flowers of North Carolina. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1968]
Shrubs up to 6 or 8 feet tall bear a profusion of deep maroon or brownish flowers in May and June. Magnolia-like in form, the flowers are 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter. This shrub usually has a spicy fragrance and is extremely variable, but most botanists agree there is only a single species. It generally grows on stream banks and moist, wooded slopes at elevations below 3,500 feet. May-June [Campbell, Carlos C., Hutson, William F., Sharp, Aaron J., Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers, Fourth Edition. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1977]
In rich woods and along water-courses this is a fairly common shrub from low altitudes up to 4,000 feet. The oval, pointed leaves, 2-5 inches long, are aromatic. The maroon flowers, made up of similar-appearing petals and sepals, have the odor of crushed strawberries when bruised. They appear in April and may continue to bloom through most of the summer. The large fig-shaped fruits have numerous glossy-brown seeds that are reputed to be poisonous. April through summer [Stupka, Arthur, Wildflowers in Color. HarperPerennial, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1965]
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Alphabetical Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Family Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Genus Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z