NC Common Wetland Plants Guide: Clethra alnifolia

Coefficient of Conservatism Values (more info)

Mountains

n/a

Piedmont

Coastal Plain

National Wetland Plant List Status (more info)

Eastern Mountains/Piedmont

FAC

Coastal Plain

FACW

FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:

Racemes with empty seed capsules persist through winter. Thick, light brown scales cover the current year's stems. Distinctive leaf shape.

Synonym(s): Clethra tomentosa

Description: Broad-leaved deciduous shrub to 3 m tall.

Leaves: Alternate, elliptic, obovate or oblanceolate leaves. Leaves toothed and approximately 8 cm long by 4 cm wide. Typically widest toward the tip.

Flowers/Fruit: Fragrant, small, white 5-petaled flowers produced in racemes. Blooms June/July; fruits September/October.

Habit and Range: Wet pine savannas, flatwoods, bays, pocosins in the Coastal Plain, and damp floodplains of the lower Piedmont.

Typical Max Plant Height (m):

Leaf Arrangement:

Alternate

Leaf Division:

Simple

Leaf Margin:

Toothed

Leaf Shape:

Obovate, Oblanceolate

Inflorescence Color:

White

Fruit Color:

Brown

Lifespan:

Perennial

Group:

Dicot

Family:

Clethraceae / Pepperbush

Ecoregions Found In:

Piedmont, Coastal Plain

COMMON CONFUSIONS:

Clethra alnifolia (coastal sweet-pepperbush) has flowers similar to Itea virginica (Virginia sweetspire), but note leaf shape of C. alnifolia is widest past the middle, toward leaf tip. Teeth on C. alnifolia are absent from the base of the leaf, whereas in I. virginica, teeth are along the whole margin.

Click here to view Itea virginica.

Link to side-by-side comparisons page