Spice wood?

[centaura]

Is anyone familiar with a species with a common name of Spice wood? I was collecting last year, and I ended up with a small tree that the property owner introduced to me as "spice wood". Now, whenever I do a search on "spice wood tree" I come up with info on a tropical tree that's a myrtle relative down in Florida. Problem - this tree was collected and grows wild in Northern Indiana. I am having doubts that its a zone 10 hardy specie. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

-Cat

[plantmanky]

Cat,

hehehe That's one of the problems with "common names". If you can post a picture of the tree in question and it's habits (evergreen, deciduous, etc) that you know about the tree maybe someone can ID if for you. If you have pic's of flowers or seeds that would be helpfull too. I know I'll try and ID it for you if I can. I know of a native called Spice Bush (Lindera benzoin) which is a deciduous shrub that flowers in the early spring before the leaves emerge.

Randy

[lewisjk]

In my dictionary of common names to scientific names I find:

Spice bush -- Benzoin astivale or Lindera benzoin (those sound like synonyms)

Spiceberry - Ardisia crenata

[plantmanky]

In my dictionary of common names to scientific names I find:

Spice bush -- Benzoin astivale or Lindera benzoin (those sound like synonyms)

Yes, currently Benzoin astivale is listed as a synonym for Linderia benzoin. However, some botanists list Benzoin astivale as "unresolved" and some call it "illigitimate" meaning that someday they will finalize it's status. I suspect that Linderia benzoin will win in the end and Benzoin astivale will fade into the sunset.

R

[centaura]

Okay, here's a pick of the bark and the leaves. I did not notice any flowers this last spring, but then its still a young sprout so it might not have, or I might have missed/forgotten them.

-Cat

[plantmanky]

Cat,

Sure looks like American Spice bush (Lindera benzoin) to me. Here's a wikileaks link with some information and pictures of the leaves that you can uses as a comparison. It's not unusual for young shrubs to not flower for a while. Just keep a watchful eye out in the very late winter or very early spring for it to set flowers. If it were me, I'd style this tree such that the early spring flowers are the focus of the tree. Also note, that it's a dioecious plant so if you want berries (which I would) you'll need to know if it's male or female and get the oposit sex nearby to ensure seeds are produced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindera_benzoin

I've always wanted to try Lindera so I'll be intrested in seeing how yours works out for you. If you believe that this is in fact Lindera, please report it so we can offically add it to the ABS list of North American plants used for bonsai. Currently it has not been reported by anyone in the United States. Give the list a glance on how to report it. Here's the link. http://absbonsai.org/bonsai-articles/bonsai-essentials/104-abs-list-of-north-american-plants-used-for-bonsai

Randy

[centaura]

Thanks for the info, I'll have to look it up. I really haven't done anything with this guy, other than pulling him out of the ground. The property owner where we were collecting was encouraging folks to take a spice bush - maybe because they were native and he wanted to see them used as bonsai. I think I'm the only one who grabbed one. I hadn't done anything to it since I had no idea how they'd work with bonsai culture, and it was also young. So far its survived a (mild/protected) winter in a bonsai pot, I should work on some chopping next to see how it likes it.

-Cat