Swamp Candleberry

Foliage fragrant when crushed.

Bayberry is an actinorhizal plant: its roots feature nitrogen fixing nodules formed in symbiosis with the nitrogen fixing actinobacteria Frankia. Thus it is tolerant of nitrogen-poor, acidic soils such as wetlands and dunes.(Widipedia).

The range is disjunct within Florida.



Screen or hedge plant. Deciduous to semi-evergreen.

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.



Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray

Clonal: it usually sends up sprouts from its roots to form thickets.

The wood is somewhat brittle, but it will grow back if cut to the ground.

Fuits are eaten by birds, especially yellow-rumped warblers (which are very efficient at digesting the waxy fruits), in the fall and winter (NC State Extension Service)

Wet sites. Bogs, swamps, flatwoods depressions, cutthroat seeps.

• Aroma, fragrance, Interesting foliage
• It is a host plant for the Red-banded Hairstreak butterfly  (NC State Extension Service)