Red-fruit spicebush is an East Asian cousin of the native common spicebush, known for its glossy red fall berries and golden-yellow fall color. It is native to Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan and does not grow wild in the United States, but it is occasionally planted in arboretums and gardens.
Appearance
- Growth form
- In its native forests it can reach about 50 ft (15 m), but in gardens it usually stays a dense, multi-stemmed shrub or small tree around 15–20 ft (4.5–6 m) tall. Bark is gray to light brown, and young twigs are dotted with corky pores.
- Leaves
- Leaves are long and narrow, widest toward the tip, about 2½–6 in (6–15 cm) long, with smooth edges and a whitish underside. They are fragrant and turn brilliant golden yellow in fall.
- Flowers
- Tiny yellow-green flowers grow in small clusters as the leaves open (May–June in North Carolina gardens), so they are less showy than those of common spicebush.
- Fruit
- Round, glossy red berries about 0.3 in (7–8 mm) across ripen on female plants in fall, mostly in October.
Look-alikes
Common spicebush blooms in early spring before its leaves come out and usually stays a 6–12 ft (1.8–3.7 m) shrub. Red-fruit spicebush blooms later, as its leaves open, and can grow into a small single-trunked tree.
Why they get mixed upBoth are spicebushes with small yellow flowers, aromatic leaves, and red berries on female plants.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- forests
- valleys and slopes
- riversides
- Range
- Native to central and southern China, Korea, Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu), and Taiwan. In North America it is grown only in gardens and plant collections.
- Preferred conditions
- A warm-temperate woodland tree that likes sun to light shade and moist, well-drained, acidic to neutral soil. It does poorly in drought and limy (alkaline) soil.
- Flowering
Flowers May–Jun
Flowers May–Jun · Fruit Oct
Growing it
- Care
- Hardy in USDA zones 6–8. Plant at least one female and one male if you want fruit, since only female plants bear berries.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
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