FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Young twigs have red bark. Inflorescence is leafy.
Description: Semi-evergreen or deciduous, medium-sized shrub, to 4 m.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, elliptical to obovate, finely serrated with short hairs on both surfaces; smaller leaves in wetter habitats.
Flowers/Fruit: Leafy raceme with white, globular flowers with fused petals; flowers produce fuzzy, round capsules that split when ripe. Flowers late April to June; fruits September/October.
Habit and Range: Pocosins, seepage wetlands, mountain bogs, bottomlands, savannas, and pine flatwoods. Found throughout the state, but most abundant in the Coastal Plain.
Taxonomic Note: Mountains and Piedmont variety is var. ligustrina. Leaves appear gray-green in the Coastal Plain variety (var. foliosiflora).
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Lyonia ligustrina (maleberry) is called such because it is similar to Vaccinium spp. (blueberry) or Gaylussacia spp. (huckleberry), but produces dry capsules and not fleshy edible fruit.
Click here to view Vaccinium corymbosum.
Click here to view Gaylussacia frondosa.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
