FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Lower leaf veins extend to outer edge of leaf. Branches often green above and burgundy on undersides. Stems have a white chambered pith.
Description: Deciduous, sprawling shrub to 2 m.
Leaves: Alternate, finely toothed, glabrous, elliptic leaves. Leaves oblong with parallel sides, 2 to 9 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide.
Flowers/Fruit: Clusters of white 5-petaled flowers form a narrow raceme at branch ends. Two-lobed beaked capsules persist. Flowers May/June; fruits soon after.
Habit and Range: Low woods, swamps, alongside streams, throughout North Carolina.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Itea virginica (Virginia sweetspire) leaves and flowers are similar to Clethra alnifolia (coastal sweet-pepperbush), but in Itea virginica the leaves thinner and teeth extend all the way around the leaf margin. In C. alnifolia, teeth are absent from leaf bases. Eubotrys racemosus (swamp fetterbush) also have similar leaves, but they have all major veins curving inward before reaching leaf margins.
Click here to view Clethra alnifolia.
Click here to view Eubotrys racemosus.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
