{"title":"Styrax (Snowbells)","description":"\u003cp\u003eSnowbells flower upside down, and that is the whole charm of the genus. In late spring the white bells hang beneath the branches on long, slender stalks, each one waxy and five-lobed around a little brush of yellow stamens, so the show is best seen from below, looking up through the canopy. \u003cem\u003eStyrax\u003c\/em\u003e gives the storax family, Styracaceae, its name, and the Asian members of the genus are the old source of benzoin, the fragrant resin of incense and perfumery. The trees in a garden are quieter about their scent, though several are sweetly fragrant in bloom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eStyrax japonicus\u003c\/em\u003e, the Japanese snowbell, is the best known: a small tree of 20 to 30 feet from Japan and China, with a layered, horizontal habit and grey-brown bark fissured with orange-brown in winter. \u003cem\u003eStyrax obassia\u003c\/em\u003e, the fragrant snowbell of Japan, Korea and Manchuria, makes a bolder tree with round leaves four to eight inches long and flowers carried in drooping racemes four to eight inches long, highly fragrant and sometimes half hidden by the foliage. Closer to home, \u003cem\u003eStyrax americanus\u003c\/em\u003e, the American snowbell, is a native shrub of 6 to 10 feet from Southeastern swamps, marshes and stream banks, sweetly scented, worked over by bees and butterflies, and a host plant of the Promethea silkmoth. The bigleaf snowbell, \u003cem\u003eStyrax grandifolius\u003c\/em\u003e, is its woodland cousin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSite the Asian species where you can walk beneath them: over a bench, beside a path, at the edge of a terrace. They want moist, acid, well-drained soil, sun to part shade, and steady water through a Southern summer, since heat and drought are their weak points. The American snowbell is the answer for wet ground, a rain garden, or the edge of a pond, where few flowering shrubs are as graceful.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe listings here include records of snowbells we have grown in the past as well as the plants on the bench now. Read the full field guide, \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/the-node\/the-quiet-bells-of-styrax-field-guide\"\u003eThe Quiet Bells of Styrax\u003c\/a\u003e, find more small flowering trees among our \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/canopy-trees\"\u003eCanopy Trees\u003c\/a\u003e, more natives in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/southeast-natives\"\u003eSoutheastern Natives\u003c\/a\u003e, and further Japanese introductions in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/origins-japan\"\u003eOrigins: Japan\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"styrax-obassia","title":"Styrax obassia","description":"\u003cp\u003eStyrax obassia, the fragrant snowbell, is the bold-leaved cousin of the more familiar Japanese snowbell, a small deciduous tree from the mountain woodlands of Japan, Korea, and China. Where Styrax japonicus hides small bells beneath fine, layered branches, the fragrant snowbell wears large, rounded, almost tropical leaves up to eight inches across, and hangs long, drooping chains of white, bell-shaped flowers that carry a sweet perfume through the late-spring garden.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA member of the storax family, Styracaceae, the fragrant snowbell keeps company with the silverbells, the American snowbell, and the rare jacktree. The genus name Styrax is the classical word for the trees that once yielded storax and benzoin, the fragrant resins burned as incense since antiquity, though the perfume of this hardy tree comes from the flowers rather than from any resin. In spring the racemes hang below the broad foliage, so the fragrance is met before the flowers are seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe bold, rounded leaves give the fragrant snowbell a presence unusual among small flowering trees, casting a moderate, dappled shade and lending a lush, almost subtropical texture to a cool woodland setting. In autumn the leaves pass through soft yellow, and the smooth gray-brown bark, furrowing with age, holds quiet interest once the canopy is bare. Bees work the fragrant flowers freely through the bloom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGive the fragrant snowbell a moist, well-drained, acid soil and a sheltered spot in sun to part shade, with a little afternoon shade where summers are fierce. Site the tree at a woodland edge, in a courtyard, or beside a path or patio where the drooping flowers can be met at nose height, and underplant with ferns, hellebores, and other woodlanders that share the cool, even moisture. A dependable, fragrant small tree for a wide range across the eastern United States.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42058000072819,"sku":"STYR-OBAS-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-243.jpg?v=1720141342"},{"product_id":"styrax-japonicus","title":"Styrax japonicus","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo see Styrax japonicus properly you have to look up. The leaves ride along the tops of the branches, all turned to the sky, while underneath, in late spring, hang rows of small white bells on slender stalks, so the whole horizontal tier of the tree seems lit from below. Stand beneath one in bloom and the common name explains itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey came west in 1862, gathered in Japan and Korea by the collector Richard Oldham and sent home to Kew, and they have been furnishing gardens with their tiered grace ever since. The genus carries an old and fragrant pedigree: Styrax is the classical name for the trees that gave the world storax and benzoin, the balsamic resins burned as incense and folded into perfume since antiquity, though that resin comes from their tropical cousins and not from this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat this tree gives is the flowers, a faint sweetness on a warm evening, and afterward small olive-shaped drupes on long stems. The Japanese call them egonoki, a name drawn from the throat-catching acridity of those fruits, which were once crushed to stun fish and lather like soap, and whose hard wood was turned into umbrella ribs and the body of the kokyu, the old bowed fiddle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey want what their woodland made them want: moisture, acid soil, and shade through the worst of the afternoon. Give them a spot where the morning light comes filtered through the canopy, and let people discover, year after year, that the flowers are hiding just over their heads.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"1 Gallon","offer_id":42961882480755,"sku":"STYR-JAPO-01G","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"1 Quart","offer_id":42961882513523,"sku":"STYR-JAPO-01Q","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Styrax-japonica-Japa_Zg9kPnlBphrP.jpg?v=1743696134"},{"product_id":"styrax-grandifolia","title":"Styrax grandifolia","description":"\u003cp\u003eStoloniferous shrub-tree to 10 feet. White flowers in racemes. (See F\u0026amp;J)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42058000171123,"sku":"STYR-GRAN-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"styrax-americanus","title":"Styrax americanus","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmerican snowbell is one of the quiet delights of the Southeastern wetlands, usually a graceful multi-stemmed deciduous shrub, though the plant can be trained up into a small single-trunked tree. Along streamsides and in low, wet ground from the coastal plain through the interior South, the shrub carries slender branches that hang, in spring, with rows of small, bell-shaped white flowers, faintly fragrant and nodding on fine stalks so the whole plant seems trimmed in tiny lanterns.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA member of the storax family, Styracaceae, American snowbell keeps company with the silverbells, the snowbells, and the rare jacktree. The genus name Styrax is the classical word for the trees that yielded storax and benzoin, the fragrant balsamic resins burned as incense since antiquity, though those resins come from tropical relatives rather than from this hardy native. What the American snowbell offers instead is the spring show of bells and an easy, adaptable temperament.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough the shrub grows wild in wet places, American snowbell settles happily into ordinary garden ground given good soil and ample moisture, thriving in sun or shade and flowering most freely in the sun. The small white flowers draw bees and other early pollinators, and the fine, layered branching gives a light, airy presence well suited to the smaller garden. Some plants in cultivation may belong to the powdery-leaved variety, Styrax americanus var. pulverulentus.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUse American snowbell at a pond edge, in a rain garden, along a shaded woodland path, or in a mixed border where the hanging spring flowers can be met at close range. Pair with ferns, native azaleas, and other moisture-loving companions, give a moist, well-drained, acid soil, and site where a passerby can look up into the bells. A refined, well-mannered native for the water's edge and the shade garden alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42058000269427,"sku":"STYR-AMER-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/A_C_Styraxamericanus.jpg?v=1731591829"}],"url":"https:\/\/woodlanders.net\/collections\/styrax.oembed","provider":"Woodlanders","version":"1.0","type":"link"}