Flora of North America species comparison

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Lindera melissifolia

pondberry, southern spicebush
Leaves

blade elliptic to ovate, 8-16 × 3-6 cm, membranous, base rounded to widely cuneate, margins ciliate, apex acute;

surfaces abaxially and adaxially pubescent.
Drupe

nearly globose, ca. 12 mm; fruiting pedicels of previous season persistent on stem, stout, 9-12 mm, apex enlarged.
Low

shrubs, rarely over 1.5 m. Young twigs pubescent.

Lindera melissifolia
Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Low woods, depressions, pond and sink margins, Coastal Plain and Mississippi Embayment
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AR; GA; MO; MS; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Lindera melissifolia has not been seen in Alabama, Florida, or Louisiana in over a century.

The orthographic variants "melissaefolia" and "melisaefolium" have sometimes been used.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Lauraceae > Lindera
Sibling taxa
L. benzoin, L. subcoriacea
Synonyms Laurus melissifolia, Benzoin melissifolia
Name authority (Walter) Blume: Mus. Bot. 1: 324. 1851 (as melissaefolia)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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