Calycanthus occidentalis

Sweet-shrub, spicebush, Spicebush

Family: Calycanthaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Sweet-shrub is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and San Joaquin Valley, particularly around the Kings River floodplain, in moist, shady canyons and streamsides at elevations generally below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to August, this plant produces large, fleshy flowers approximately 5 centimeters in diameter with hairy perianth segments. Growing erectly to 1 to 3 meters tall with a rounded form, it develops sturdy branches that create an attractive, dense silhouette. Its leaves are firm and distinctive, with ovate to lance-oblong blades 5 to 15 centimeters long, having rounded bases, acute tips, and a somewhat scabrous surface that feels rough to the touch. The fruit develops as an ovoid receptacle bearing velvety achenes 7 to 10 millimeters long with granular margins.

Habitat: Moist, shady places, canyons, streamsides

Bloom period: Mar-Aug

Elevation: generally < 1500 m

Bioregions: se KR, s NCoRO, NCoRI, s CaR, SNF, c&amps SNH, SnJV (Kings River floodplain, e of Fresno), apparently naturalized n PR (Palomar Mtns).

California counties: Fresno, Butte, Kern, Lake, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, Riverside, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tulare, Yolo, San Diego, Colusa, Tuolumne, Marin, Yuba, Glenn, Tehama, Calaveras, Trinity, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Alameda, Stanislaus

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.