Common Name:

sweet pepperbush, summersweet

Synonym(s):

Genus species:

Clethra alnifolia

Family:

Clethraceae

Form:

shrub

Size:

3-10 ft tall by 2-5 ft wide 

Life Span:

long-lived perennial; moderately long-lived (Nelson 2003)

Flower Color:

white

Fruit Color:

brown

Phenology:

deciduous; blooms in spring

Noted For:

Recommended Uses:

Hedges, back borders. Blooms in summer.

Considerations:

Availability:

Propagation:

seed, division or softwood cuttings

Light:

Moisture Tolerance:

Always Flooded------------------------------------------------Extremely Dry

Stays wet ---to--- Not wet but not extremely dry

Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:

Tolerant of occasional/brief inundation such as can occur in storm surges

Salt Spray/Salty Soil Tolerance:

High. Can tolerate significant and ongoing amounts of salty wind and salt spray without injury.

Soil or Other Substrate:

Soil pH:

Suitable to Grow In:

8A, 8B, 9A, 9B

Wildlife:

Attracts hummingbirds.

Birds and other small wildlife consume the seed .

Attracts butterflies and bees which have evolved to take advantage of narrow, tubular flowers.

Native Habitats:

Moist-wet areas, acid soils. Wet flatwoods, savannas, swamps, stream banks, bogs, other wet areas.

Natural Range in Florida:

Visit the USF Libraries Atlas of Florida Plants

Ethnobotany:

General Comments:

The herbarium specimen from Polk County almost certainly has a wrong location.  Lithia is in HillsboroSeed, division or softwood cuttingsugh County and the most likely translation of a wrongly written latitude and longitude is also in Hillsborough County -- but the exact location would have been agricultural in 1962.