Sexing Spicebush

Spicebush fruit, Fall 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)
Spicebush fruit, Fall 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

How do you tell the sex of a spicebush?  In autumn the females have bright red fruit.

Flowering plants (angiosperms) have different ways of reproducing:

  • 90% of species have “perfect” flowers containing both male and female parts — stamens and pistils.  “Perfect” flowers are bisexual or hermaphrodites.
  • Monoecious species have separate male and female flowers on the same plant.  Did you know that corn (maize) is monoecious?  The tassle on top is the male flower; the corncob grows from the female flower.
  • Dioecious species have male and female flowers on separate plants.  Only 6% of flowering plants are dioecious, mostly woody species.

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is dioecious but I didn’t know that when I encountered this explosion of spicebush berries in the Laurel Highlands.

Profusion of spicebush berries, Laurel Highlands, Oct 2017 (photo by Kate St.John)
Profusion of spicebush berries, Laurel Highlands, Oct 2017 (photo by Kate St.John)

Right next to the fruit-laden bush was another one with no fruit at all — just tiny green knobs, the buds for next spring.  Why?

Aha!  This plant is male.

Spicebush without fruit, just buds, Fall 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)
Spicebush without fruit, just buds, Fall 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

If you know what to look for you can sex spicebush at any time of year but autumn is the easiest. In spring the spicebush flowers are so small that you’ll want a magnifying glass to see their tiny structures.

For closeups of male and female spicebush flowers click here at the New Jersey Plant Society’s webpage on Lindera benzoin.

 

(photos by Kate St. John)

14 thoughts on “Sexing Spicebush

  1. Reminds me of my days working in a garden center. I’d have to have the “sex talk” with customers about their holly bushes, which are also male and female. Always brought a smile to their faces.

  2. Will the female spicebush have berries even if a male spicebush is not around? We have one and would like to know how to tell its sex so we can get a mate for it. 🙂

    1. I have a single Spicebush and this year I noticed red berries on it for the first time. So yes, the female does have berries even if there’s no male present.

  3. What distance is optimal between male and female plants to produce berries? For example to pollinate my viburnum there must be another within 50 ft. Thank you in advance.

  4. In optimal growing conditions, at what age does a Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) produce flowers and/or fruit to determine sex?
    Does a 2 year old plant exhibit these sex characteristics?

  5. Are there names of the male/female plants, ala red sprite/jim dandy for winterberry, so that we know what we’re getting? And able to make the match? Nurseries that I’ve searched online don’t seem to provide this info.

    1. Barbara, the names you list are set by growers who breed the plants. The plants I write about are in the wild so they don’t have cultivation names.

  6. Would love some visual examples of sexing spice bushes by the buds in the fall. I have two with buds on them currently. Can I send photos for someone to look at?

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