FAMILY: ITEACEAE (alternatively included in Grossulariaceae)

ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: Virginia sweetspire, tassel-white

LEAVES: alternative, simple, tardily deciduous, blades variable in shape from elliptic to oblanceolate, margins minutely serrate; veins arcuate

FLOWER: perfect (bisexual), white, 1/4", bell-shaped; inflorescence a terminal raceme 1.5-4” long, often arching; flowers diverging at right angles, racemes thus appear bottlebrush-like; flowering in spring (April)

FRUIT: small, dry, persistent capsules

TWIGS: green, pith chambered; 3 bundle-scars (monkey- face)

FORM: small colonial shrub to ca. 6’ tall

HABITAT: cypress-tupelo swamps, small stream bottoms, bayhead swamps, gum ponds, wet swales in bottomland hardwoods

WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative Wetland (FACW): Usually occurs in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region

RANGE: Pennsylvania south to Florida and west to Oklahoma and Texas  [MAP]

USES: erosion control, ornamental

Best Recognition Features:

1. low colonial shrub of wet sites
2. twigs green, with chambered pith
3. leaf margins finely serrate, veins arcuate
4. small white flowers in bottlebrush-like racemes in early spring
5. persistent capsules

NOTE: other genera with arcuate veination are Cornus (flowering and roughleaf dogwood) and Frangula (Carolina buckthorn)