sweet shrub

▪ plant

also called  Carolina allspice,  California allspice,   or  strawberry shrub 

      one of two species of small ornamental trees of the family Calycanthaceae, with aromatic bark and sweet-scented flowers, both native to North America.

      The sweet shrub bush has opposite, simple, smooth-margined leaves. The petals of the brownish maroon to red magnolia-like flowers integrate with the sepals. The pear-shaped or egg-shaped fruiting body contains many dry, single-seeded achenes (achene). Calycanthus floridus (Carolina allspice), a shrub about 3 metres (10 feet) tall from the southeastern United States, and C. occidentalis, from northern California, are both cultivated in North America and other temperate areas.

      The flowers of this family are remarkably adapted for pollination by beetles (coleopteran). The dark reddish brown flowers of C. floridus and the slightly paler flowers of C. occidentalis resemble a lobster trap in which the petals are aligned so that they permit easy entry but block the insect's escape. A beetle (Colopterus truncatus is the beetle that pollinates C. occidentalis) enters the flower and transfers pollen gathered from a flower it visited earlier to the stigma. After pollen is shed by the flower and lands on the beetle, the inner parts of the flower fold back and the beetle escapes. By this time the stigmas have withered, preventing further pollen germination and ensuring cross-pollination. The innermost parts of the perianth—the stamens and staminodes—have white granular food bodies at their tips on which the beetles feed.

Paul E. Berry

 

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