Habitat

• native to Japan
• hardy to zone 5

Habit and Form

• a deciduous large shrub or small tree
• 10' to 20' tall
• rounded habit
• medium texture
• fast growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• deciduous, simple leaves
• ovate leaf shape
• 2" to 5" long
• serrated leaf margin
• dark green leaf color

Autumn Foliage

• bronze to red fall color

Flowers

• numerous, small white flowers held in racemes.
• racemes are 4" to 6" long
• found at terminal tips
• nicely fragrant
• blooms in July and August
• blooms on current seasons growth
• showy

Fruit

• small capsules
• borne in long terminal spikes
• turn brown in fall

Bark

• smooth exfoliating bark
• gray to reddish brown color

Culture

• prefers moist, fertile soil
• transplant from container or B&B
• may be slow to establish and some twig tip dieback may occur during the first winter.
• relatively easy to grow
• full sun to partial shade
• avoid hot, dry sites

Landscape Use

• screen
• specimen perhaps
• in groupings
• shrub border
• colonizing nature can be useful
• highly useful for late summer fragrant flowers
• site the plant so fragrance can be appreciated
• tolerant of ocean-side plantings
• naturalistic/native landscapes

Liabilities

• relatively pest free except for spider mites
• spider mites can be severe on plants in hot, dry locations
• hard to find

ID Features

• fragrant spires of white flowers in mid to late summer
• persistent fruit capsules
• ovate, alternate, deciduous leaves with serrations
• suckering, colonial type growth
• exfoliating bark

Propagation

• by seed
• easily rooted by summer cuttings

Cultivars/Varieties

• none