Species Name:  Lindera benzoin

Common Name: Spice Bush

Zone: 4 to 9

Distribution: Ontario Canada throughout the eastern US to Florida.  West to Iowa, Missouri and Texas.

Seed collection: Lindera benzoin  (LB) seed matures in late August into mid September in the northeast.  The fruit changes color from green to Scarlet red over a two to three day period to signal maturity.  Seed should be collected from the tree as soon as it begins to change color to beat the birds. The fruit remains on the plant for only a couple of weeks. The fruit will either be eaten by birds or begin to rot and fall to the ground.  LB fruit is produced on new growth of the year, in small clusters of 3 to 4 fruits or as individual fruits spaced along the stem . The fruit is high in fat and lipids which makes it a desired food for migrating songbirds. The birds will often begin to eat the fruit even before it is fully mature.   

Seed handling: LB seed is surrounded by a highly aromatic thin pulp that gives the species its name.  The fruit should be crushed  and the pulp and skin floated off in water.  It aids the cleaning process to place the fruits in a plastic bag. The pulp begins to rot and soften. The pulp can then be mascerated and floated off. The sound seed will sink to the bottom. Each fruit holds a single seed. The seed should not be allowed to dry out after cleaning or it will lose viability.  Place the seed under moist stratification within a few days of cleaning. The cleaned seed can be planted immediately in prepared beds, in natural soil or cold/moist stratified in moist potting mix for storage until spring. Moist stratification for 1 month under warm temperatures and two to three months cold is usually sufficient to overcome seed dormancy. Fall planting in prepared seed beds or under natural conditions will satisfy all the conditions for germination.

Germination requirements: A variable percentage of viable seed will germinate the first spring. Some batches of seed will germinate in high numbers the first spring while others will not germinate at all until the second spring. Assume that most seed will not germinate until the second spring. Sow seed ¼ to ½” deep in prepared seed beds or in natural soils. Seedlings will grow just a few inches tall the first year depending on growing conditions. Seedlings require about half shade the first one or two growing seasons but then can handle full sun. Shade can be provided by artificial screening, by planting under natural vegetation in the open or in the shade of the woodland understory. Soils can be neutral to slightly acidic, be high in fertility and have uniform soil moisture. Seedlings can adapt to lower moisture levels if the site has rich soils and shade.  Seedlings are difficult to move and are slow to recover from transplanting because of the fibrous root system. When transplanting try to disturb  the roots as little as possible and maintain soil on the roots. Container culture gives better results than moving plants bareroot.

Ecology: Lindera benzoin is a valuable wildlife shrub growing in the understory of woodlands. LB is tolerant of wet poorly drained soils where it is frequently found in floodplain forests, wet woods and swamps.  It will also grow on dryer upland sites. LB is also tolerant of high pH soils. It can reach a height of 12ft at maturity but is typically 6 to 8ft high and wide.  It has sparse open branching in shade or becomes quite dense and wide in the open.

LB is an important shrub of the woodland understory and should be widely planted and naturalized in available habitats.  LB is one of the few native shrubs that is moderately to highly reistant to deer borwsing. It tolerates a high level of shade and provides woody structure in the woodland understory for nesting and feeding birds.

LB is dioecious; it produces male and female flowers on separate plants.  It is nearly impossible to root LB from cuttings so most plants purchased are seed grown and are unsexed until they reach flowering age.  Sexual maturity can range from three to four years up to several years. Flowers are yellow and produced in early spring along the stems. 

 
Lindera fruit ready for collection, remove pulp from seeds.

Fruits is is produced only on female plants. both male and female plants needed for cross pollination.

this page posted February 20, 2008