Carolina allspice is the rare shrub sited by the nose rather than the eye. The flowers are dark maroon, strap-petalled, and easy to miss at a distance, but the scent carries: ripe strawberry in some plants, crushed melon or old wine in others, and in a few nothing much at all. Fragrance in Calycanthus floridus is genuinely variable from seedling to seedling, which is the whole argument for buying a named selection, or for buying in bloom.

'Athens' is the yellow-flowered form with a heavy fruit-punch scent, found near Athens, Georgia, and one of the great Southeastern shrub selections; 'Michael Lindsey' holds glossy foliage and reliable fragrance. Calycanthus x raulstonii 'Hartlage Wine' came out of a cross made at North Carolina State between the native and the Chinese sweetshrub, and carries much larger wine-red flowers with only a faint fragrance, which is a fair trade for the size. Site any of them along a path or a doorway, in sun or part shade, and walk past often.