Western Sweetshrub
Calycanthus occidentalis
Western sweetshrub (spice bush) is a California shrub with large wine-red, water-lily-shaped flowers and aromatic foliage and bark, fragrant and adaptable for sun or part shade. The seeds contain calycanthine, a convulsant alkaloid pharmacologically related to strychnine.
- Family
- Calycanthaceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 6–12 ft
- Spacing
- 6–12 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- April, May, June, July, August, September, October
- Bloom colors
- red, pink, brown
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, butterflies
- Landscape uses
- hedge or screen, naturalizing
- Native states
- CA