Calycanthus occidentalis

Calycanthus occidentalis
	The flowers do not have distinct sepals and petals.
Conservation status
	; Vulnerable (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Laurales
Family:	Calycanthaceae
Genus:	Calycanthus
Species:	C. occidentalis
Binomial name
	Calycanthus occidentalis; Hook. & Arn.
Synonyms
	Butneria occidentalis (Hook. & Arn.) Greene ; Calycanthus macrophyllus K.Koch ;

Calycanthus occidentalis, commonly called spice bush or western sweetshrub,^[3] is a species of flowering shrub in the family Calycanthaceae that is native to California and Washington state. It grows along streams and moist canyons in the foothills of mountains.^[4]

Description

Calycanthus occidentalis is a deciduous shrub that can reach a height of 4 m (13 ft). Its leaves are opposite, and grow to about 5–15 cm (2–6 in) long and 2–8 cm (0.8–3.1 in) wide. They are more-or-less ovate with acute tips, a rounded base. The flowers appear from late spring to early fall. The flowers do not have distinctive sepals and petals, but have swirls of dark red to burgundy colored petal-like structures called tepals, 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) long and 0.5–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) wide. The flowers open to about 5 cm (2 in) wide. The tepals enclose about 10–15 stamens.^[5]^[6] The flowers are pollinated by beetles of the family Nitidulidae.^[7]

Distribution and habitat

Calycanthus occidentalis is native to California and Washington.^[2]^[3]^[5] It grows along streams and on moist canyon slopes at elevations of 200–1,600 m (700–5,200 ft).^[5]

References

^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0".
^ ^a ^b ^c "Calycanthus occidentalis Hook. & Arn". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Calycanthus occidentalis". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
^ "Spice Bush, Calycanthus occidentalis". Calscape. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Johnson, George P. "Calycanthus occidentalis". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America (online). eFloras.org. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
^ Johnson, George P.; Fosiée, Tahbaz. "Calycanthus occidentalis Sweet-shrub, Spicebush". Jepson eFlora. The Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
^ Gottsberger, Gerhard; Gottsberger, Brigitte; Silberbauer-Gottsberger, Ilse; Stanojlovic, Vesna; Cabrele, Chiara & Dötterl, Stefan (2021). "Imitation of fermenting fruits in beetle-pollinated Calycanthus occidentalis (Calycanthaceae)". Flora. 274. 151732. doi:10.1016/j.flora.2020.151732.