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Calycanthus floridus 'Michael Lindsey'

(Common Sweetshrub)

Overview

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Very fragrant red-brown flowers. Habit is dense, compact and rounded (6' to 10' tall). Excellent shiny, dark green foliage and golden yellow fall color. Considered the finest red-flowered form.

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Common Sweetshrub, Michael Lindsey Carolina Allspice, Strawberry Shrub

Description

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Family Calycanthaceae

Shrubs , deciduous, rhizomatous , aromatic . Leaves opposite, without stipules, petiolate . Leaf blade : margins entire or, on fast-growing shoots , occasionally with a few teeth. Inflorescences terminal on short, leafy branches of current growth, solitary flowers. Flowers bisexual . Hypanthium urn-shaped; tepals and stamens perigynous; inner tepals, stamens, and staminodes with succulent, white food bodies at tips . Tepals 15-30, fleshy , petaloid , spirally inserted on outside of hypanthium. Stamens 5-30, spirally inserted at top of hypanthium; staminodes 10-25, on inner surface of hypanthium; locules opening by longitudinal slits. Pistils 5-35, 1-carpellate, spirally inserted within hypanthium; ovules 2 per locule, distal ovule abortive, submarginal ; style elongate , filiform ; stigma dry, decurrent. Fruits achenes, 1-35, dark reddish brown, cylindric , pubescent , enclosed within enlarged, fibrous persistent hypanthium (pseudocarp) . Seeds : endosperm absent.

Genera 3, species 6 (1 genus, 2 species in the flora ) : temperate North America and China.

Calycanthus is often grown ornamentally. Also in cultivation is Chimonanthus praecox (Linnaeus) Link, an eastern Asiatic shrub. Chimonanthus differs from Calycanthus in its scaly buds and yellow flowers that appear long before the leaves.

Calycanthus contains calycanthine, an alkaloid similar to strychnine, and it is toxic to humans and livestock (W. H. Lewis and M. P. F. Elvin-Lewis 1977) .[1]

Genus Calycanthus

Twigs quadrangular to nearly terete , pubescent to glabrous . Buds naked. Leaves 2-ranked. Leaf blade elliptic , ovate , or ovate-lanceolate; surfaces adaxially scabrous . Flowers maroon or reddish brown, rarely greenish or green-tipped, with strawberry or pineapple scent. x = 11.

Species 3: temperate North America.[2]

Physical Description

ID Features: Foliage aromatic when crushed. Maroon, multi-tepal flowers in summer. Fragrant flowers. Persistent urn-shaped fruits; distinctive. Buds are densely brown-hairy and surrounded by shelf-like leaf scars.

Habit: Dense, compact and rounded .

Flowers: Blooms May through July. Very fragrant red-brown flowers. Up to 2" across. Comprised of numerous tepals. Not as showy in bloom as one might expect. Spicy fragrance, especially in the evening. • Bloom Period: April, May, June, July, August. • Flower Color: maroon

Seeds: Fruit: Balloon or urn-shaped, tan capsules. Persist into winter after ripening in October. About 2" to 3" long. Wrinkled surface.

Foliage: Summer foliage: Opposite leaf arrangement . 2" to 5" long. Ovate to elliptical with acute tip . Excellent shiny, dark green foliage . Fragrant when crushed. • Fall foliage: Golden yellow.

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 6' to 10' tall.

Landscaping

Landscape Uses: Specimen. Shrub border . Woods edge . Foundation plant. For aromatic flowers. • Liabilities: A favorite target of rabbits. Can become leggy in shade. Generally insect and disease free .

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Full sun is best, but tolerant of partial shade. Likes moist, rich soils best. Soil pH adaptable. Prune after flowering. May need renewal pruning if it becomes leggy .

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

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Members of the genus Calycanthus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 13 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. brockiana (Brock Sweetshrub) · C. chinensis (Chinese Allspice) · C. floridus (Bubby Bush) · C. floridus L. var. floridus (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus L. var. glaucus (Willd.) Torr. and A.Gray (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus var. floridus (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus var. glaucus (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus 'Athens' (Bubby Bush) · C. floridus 'Edith Wilder' (Carolina Allspice) · C. floridus 'Michael Lindsey' (Common Sweetshrub) · C. occidentalis (California Allspice) · C. raulstonii 'Hartlage Wine' (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. raulstonii 'Venus' (Eastern Sweetshrub)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. George P. Johnson "Calycanthaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Calycanthus". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/21/2012