Lindera erythrocarpa Seeds | Red-fruit Spicebush

Red-fruit Spicebush (Lindera erythrocarpa) with glossy leaves and clusters of bright red berries — Red-fruit Spicebush (*Lindera erythrocarpa*): Lauraceae, a Chinese and Japanese woodland shrub with red autumn berries.

LATIN NAME: Lindera erythrocarpa

COMMON NAME: Red-fruit Spicebush

Plant Profile

The Red-fruit Spicebush is a rounded, deciduous shrub of the laurel family from the warm-temperate forests of China, Korea and Japan. Its oval, glossy leaves turn soft yellow in autumn, and in very early spring, before the foliage, the twigs open small greenish-yellow flowers in tight axillary clusters, a quiet but welcome show on bare wood. By late summer the fertilised flowers on female plants have become small, berry-like fruits that ripen from green through a brief orange to a bright, glossy red, hanging in small clusters that catch the eye against the darkening foliage.

It grows two to four metres tall with a neat, branching habit, happiest at woodland margins and in hedgerows on moist, leafy, well-drained ground. Crushed leaves carry the faint, sweet-spicy smell typical of the family.

Science & Biotechnology

The laurel family’s Asian shrubs are a busy research area, and this species has appeared in studies of fruit biology and seed dispersal, since its red drupes are taken by a suite of woodland birds that determine where the next generation establishes. The aroma in the leaves and twigs comes from essential oils of the terpenoid class, and related species in the genus are far more strongly aromatic; the genus as a whole is chemically distinctive within its family. Studies of its flowering phenology note the very early bloom, which puts it among the first nectar sources of the woodland spring in its native range.

Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, so a fruiting shrub in the garden requires both sexes within pollinating distance, a fact that catches out many first-time growers.

Uses & Benefits

In the garden it is a quiet, well-mannered woodland shrub: neat through the growing season, early flowers on bare wood, and a red-fruit display in late summer that carries into the leaf-fall. Birds take the fruit quickly, so the display is for watching rather than keeping, and the shrub’s value in a wildlife planting lies in that food chain.

The genus has deep roots in East Asian herbal tradition; the dried root bud of a close relative, Wu Yao, is a classical Chinese qi-regulating drug, and the American spicebush across the ocean has its own folk tea. This species’ own preparations are regional and minor, and any medicinal use belongs with professionals.

Growing from Seed

Clean the pulp from ripe fruit and sow in autumn into a free-draining, leafy compost, leaving the pots in a shaded cold frame; germination follows in the second spring, after a natural warm-cold-warm cycle. Alternatively warm-stratify for two months and then cold for three before sowing in spring. Keep the seed just moist, never sodden.

Grow the seedlings in half shade for two seasons and pot on deep, as the roots run down early. Plant out into moist, humus-rich, free-draining soil in sun or light shade, setting at least one male plant among the females if berries are the goal. Mulch with leaf mould annually and water in dry summers while the shrub is young.

Our Take

A tidy woodland laurel that flowers on bare twigs in earliest spring and carries red berries by late summer. Plant both sexes, give it leafy soil, and let the birds find it.

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