Horsesugar

Horsesugar

(Symplocos tinctoria )

The Sweetleaf Family (Symplocaceae)

Horsesugar, also known as Sweetleaf, is a multi-trunked shrub to small tree with alternate, evergreen leaves, striped grayish bark and fragrant showy blossoms on bare branches in spring.

Habitat:

Sandy thickets, alluvial woods, stream banks.

Interesting Facts:

The fresh leaves, with their sweet, “sour apple” flavor, are edible for humans and livestock. The leaves and roots are used to produce a yellow dye. Host plant to the King’s Hairstreak Butterfly. In springtime a fungal gall called Exobasidium symploci can form on the newly emerging leaves causing large, fleshy, edible growths.

Fruit:

Dry drupes, .5” long, egg-shaped, orangish-brown, mature in late summer.

Flower:

Male and female flowers are in clusters of small creamy white petals with numerous stamens that appear as fuzzy globes before the new leaves appear.

Wildlife value:

Leaves and branches are a forage plant for mammals; flowers attract insects; and seeds are a source of food for some bird species.

Fungal gall