Wildflower Spot – May 2019

John Clayton Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society

Symplocos tinctoria Sweetleaf/HorsesugarJohn Clayton Chapter, VNPS SweetleafBy Helen Hamilton, is an unusually Valley to Arkansas and attractive shrub or small Tennessee and inland tree in the spring, with to the mountains of the clusters of small, fragrant, easily cultivated preferring numerous stamens make the moistCarolinas. sandy Sweetleaf soils in partis bloomscream-colored particularly flowers showy. - the shade. It can be seen scattered in the understory and female parts, but the tree of woodlands and The flowers have both male along streambanks and bottomlands. inis notearly self-fertile. spring and Butterflies help with visit the flowers for nectar The common names are fragrant and are closely spacedpollination. on the The branches flowers of last refer to the sweet, slightly season’s growth, before the acidSweetleaf taste and odorHorsesugar of the leaves emerge. leaves that are commonly eaten by livestock. The Sweetleaf forms a short trunk sweetness seems variable bearing an open crown of from plant to plant and spreading branches. The is similar to that of green leaves are long, over 5 inches, apples. Sweet or not, narrow, and somewhat leathery with a yellow the taste is distinctive and is useful when midvein. The leaves appear evergreen and they distinguishing this tree from other similar may be weakly so, or deciduous, depending species. upon the climate where the tree grows. Sweetleaf is also known as Yellowwood for the yellow dye that can be made from the bark and Plain from Delaware and Virginia to Florida leaves. Early settlers used the bark, and others andThis eastern plant is Texas,native north chiefly in on the the Mississippi Coastal with aromatic properties, as a tonic. v

Photo: Sweetleaf (Symplocos tinctoria) taken by Phillip Merritt For more information about native plants visit www.vnps.org.