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Clethra alnifolia

(Coast Pepper-Bush)

Overview

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The foliage of this selection is marked with variable creamy white variegation. The flowers are white, and the plant will probably mature at 4' tall. It's a rather interesting form.

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Coast Pepper-Bush, Coastal Sweetpepperbush, Creel's Calico Summersweet, Creel's Calico Sweet Pepper Bush, Pink-Spire, Summer-Sweet, Summersweet, Summersweet Clethra, Sweet Pepper Bush, Sweet Pepperbush, White Alder

Description

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Family Clethraceae

Trees or shrubs , evergreen or deciduous. Buds, branches, leaf blades , inflorescences, and flowers with sparse to dense usually stellate hairs , often mixed with simple hairs. Branches sympodial, usually pubescent at least when young. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, simple, generally crowded near apex of twigs ; leaf blade usually abaxially ± pubescent and adaxially glabrous or glabrescent , margin serrate or occasionally entire. Inflorescences terminal , usually a many-flowered slender raceme , either solitary or umbellate-clustered, sometimes sparsely branched near base and thus appearing paniculate , pubescent, bracteate . Flowers bisexual , actinomorphic . Pedicel articulated at base of sepals. Sepals 5, imbricate, persistent . Petals 5, usually white, free or coherent at base, oblong to obovate , inside often pilose from base to middle , apical margin often fimbriate, apex rounded- to truncate-emarginate. Stamens 10, in 2 whorls, distinct but generally adnate to base of petals; anthers inverted at anthesis , ± V-shaped, introrse , papillose , opening by short apical pores . Ovary superior, 3-locular, globose but apically depressed at style base, pubescent, with axile placentation ; ovules 20-40 per locule. Style 1, persistent, apex usually 3-cleft or -lobed. Capsule subglobose to globose, pubescent, 3-locular. Seeds many, ovoid-subtrigonous, thin-walled, surface impressed-reticulate.

One genus and ca. 65 species: America, Asia, N Atlantic Islands (Madeira ) ; seven species (three endemic) in China.[1]

Genus Clethra

Morphological characters and geographic distribution are the same as for the family .

[2]

Physical Description

ID Features: Fragrant spires of white flowers in mid to late summer. Persistent fruit capsules. Obovate, alternate, deciduous leaves with serrations. Suckering, colonial type growth.

Habit: Deciduous.

Flowers: Numerous , small white flowers held in racemes .. Racemes are 3" to 5" long and 0.75" wide. Nicely fragrant. Blooms in July and August. Blooms on current seasons growth. Showy. • Bloom Period: April, May, June, July, August. • Flower Color: near white, white

Seeds: Fruit: Small capsules. Turn brown in fall and persist for a year or two.

Foliage: Summer foliage: Alternate, deciduous leaves. 1.5" to 4" long and 1" to 2" wide. Obovate shape with acute to accuminate tip . Serrate leaf margins . Variable creamy white variegation. Late to leaf out in spring . • Fall foliage: Yellow-green to golden brown. Can be showy at times.

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 4-6' tall.

Landscaping

Landscape Uses: Screen . Specimen perhaps. In groupings. Shrub border . Colonizing nature can be useful. Highly useful for late summer fragrant flowers. Site the plant so fragrance can be appreciated. Tolerant of ocean-side plantings . Naturalistic/native landscapes. • Liabilities: Relatively pest free except for spider mites . Spider mites can be severe on plants in hot, dry locations.

Habitat

Most commonly founded in moist woodlands, especially near water. Zone 4.

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 548 meters (0 to 1,798 feet).[3]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 4-6' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Clethra alnifolia var. tomentosa (Lam.) Michx. • Clethra tomentosa Lam.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Clethra

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 26 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. acuminata (Cinnamon Clethra) · C. alnifolia (Coast Pepper-Bush) · C. alnifolia 'Anne Bidwell' (Summersweet Clethra) · C. alnifolia 'Ann Bidewell' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Chattanooga' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Compacta' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Cottondale' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Fern Valley Late Sweet' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Fern Valley Pink' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Hokie Pink' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Hummingbird' (Hummingbird Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Novia Scotia' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Paniculata' (Paniculata Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Pink Spires' (Pink Spires Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Rosea' (Pink Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Ruby Spice' (Ruby Spice Summer Sweet) · C. alnifolia 'September Beauty' (September Beauty Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Sherry Sue' (Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'Sixteen Candles' (Dwarf Summersweet) · C. alnifolia'Sweet Suzanne' (Sweet Suzanne Summersweet) · C. alnifolia 'White Dove' (Summersweet) · C. arborea (Folhado) · C. barbinervis (Japanese Clethra) · C. delavayi (Delavay Summersweet) · C. monostachya (Clethra) · C. pringlei (Mexican Summersweet)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 20, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Haining Qin & Peter Fritsch "Clethraceae". in Flora of China Vol. 14 Page 238. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Clethra". in Flora of China Vol. 14 Page 238. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 64.700 meters (212.270 feet), Standard Deviation = 88.780 based on 338 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-07-14