Styrax americanus
(American snowbell)
Common Name, Latin Name and Family
Its common names include American snowbell, American storax, or mock-orange.
Its Latin name is Styrax americanus.
American snowbell is in the Styracaceae, silverbell, family along with bigleaf snowbell (Styrax grandiflora), Carolina silverbell (Halesia carolina) and two-wing silverbell (Halesia diptera).
Form
American snowbell grows to a height of about 10 to 12 feet at maturity and is excellent as an understory tree, or large shrub, for moist, partly shaded, areas.
Leaves
The leaves are alternate and simple having short petioles and no stipules.
Leaf margins vary from entire to several teeth.
The apices usually has a sharp point, but may be rounded. Leaves measure 1 – 4 cm wide and 5 – 8 cm long.
Flowers
In late winter, February and March in central Florida, white blooms appear just as the leaves begin to emerge.
The flowers are bisexual with five symmetrical petals and are 15 mm across. The petals are recurved and spread, unlike the Halesia species. The stamens and stigma are very obvious and extend past the petals about 1 cm. However, the ovary does not extend past the basal curve of the petals. The stamens are bright yellow in color.
Fruit
Small, round, fruit soon follow the pollinated flowers and are eaten by songbirds and small mammals such as squirrels and mice.
The fruit is brown when mature.
The fruit are about 8 mm in size.
Habitat
It occurs naturally along stream banks, marshes, wet woodlands, cypress heads, pond margins and wet ditches.
Native Range
American snowbell is found naturally in Florida from about Charlotte County northward.
American snowbell is native to: AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, MS, NC, OH, OK, SC, TN, TX and VA.
It grows in zones 5b to 10b.
Landscape Use
In the home landscape it can be planted in moist to wet sites and can withstand wet roots for short periods of time.
Wildlife Use
American snowbell is an excellent small tree for a wildlife habitat.
The tree will be covered with white blossoms for several weeks during February and March in central Florida.
During which time it is constantly visited by pollinators of many kinds including bumblebees, carpenter bees, honeybees, small wasps, and bee flies. All of the insect activity will attract insect eating songbirds such as great crested flycatchers if they are in your area. Northern cardinals will occasionally visit to consume flower buds or petals.
Propagation
It can be grown from seed, cuttings, and transplants.
Seeds need patience and can prove to be difficult to germinate. They need cold stratification and even then germination is not great.
Cuttings can be taken from new growth, dipped in rooting hormone and put into small pots with half pearlite and half potting soil.
Snowbell transplants well at just about any size. The flowers and fruit need to be removed so the transplant can focus on recovering from the shock and focus on growing and repairing its root system.