Calycanthus Gardening Tips

Calycanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Calycanthaceae. It is commonly known as Sweetshrub, Allspice or Spicebush. Calycanthus is a deciduous shrub growing to 2-4m tall. They have fragrant flowers and aromatic foliage, the bark has strong camphor smell that is released when stems are scraped. The fruits is an elliptic dry capsule measuring 5-7cm long with numerous seeds. Calycanthus oil, distilled from the flowers, is an essential oil used in some quality perfumes.

Calycanthus is hardy and grow well in sun, in fertile, moisture-retentive soil, in sheltered corner or against a south-facing fence or wall. Prolonged cold weather, especially cold, piercing wind may cause damage to the plant. Propagation of the plant can be done via ripe seed; softwood cuttings in summer or layer in autumn.

Calycanthus occidentalis

Author: Scott (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

Calycanthus floridus
Author: Almandine (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0-unported)

Calycanthus floridus

Author: Rob Hille (public domain)

Calycanthus floridus
Author: KENPEI (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0)

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