Conjurer's-nut

Nestronia umbellula

Also called Indian olive, nestronia, leechbrush.

A rare low shrub of dry southern oak and pine woods that draws on the roots of the plants around it and spreads into large colonies.

Rare

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 1–4 ft
USDA zones: 7–8
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Dry uplands, sandy barrens and the forest understory
Native range: 8 states, north to Virginia, south to Georgia and west to Mississippi
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Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
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Conjurer's-nut is a rare low shrub of the sandalwood family, found in open oak and pine woods of the Southeast. It ranges from Virginia and Kentucky south to Alabama and Mississippi, mostly in the Piedmont. It makes its own food in its leaves, but its roots also attach to the roots of nearby plants and draw nutrients from them. Plants are male or female, and most colonies are all one or the other, so fruit is seldom seen. Kentucky and Tennessee list it as endangered, and Georgia lists it as rare. Set it in open, sandy woods among oaks or pines, where its roots can reach a host.

Size, growth and what to expect

Conjurer's-nut grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It makes a low, upright shrub 1 to 4 feet tall, with smooth, dark purplish brown stems. Its opposite leaves are 1 to 2.5 inches long, dark yellow-green above and paler beneath, and they drop early in autumn.

Small, pale yellow-green flowers open in April and May, the male ones in little clusters and the female ones single. Fruit is seldom set, but where it forms, a round, fleshy, greenish-yellow fruit about half an inch across ripens from June into August.

It grows wild in open woods of oak, hickory and pine, often among low shrubs of the heath family. It has been found at more than 50 sites in Georgia since 1931, but only 16 have been confirmed since 2000.

How to grow Conjurer's-nut

Conjurer's-nut grows in open woods, in light shade or sun. It takes deep sand, sandy loam or sandy clay. The soil may be dry or moist and is most often acid. Its roots attach to the roots of nearby oaks, pines, blackberries and other plants, so set it where such hosts already grow. Plant it 3 feet from a wall and set plants 3 feet apart. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant it close to an established host, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper, and put the native soil back in. It is hard to raise. It seldom sets fruit, since most colonies are all male or all female. It spreads instead by underground stems into large colonies.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. A colony can live for decades, though each stem probably lives less than seven years. Logging or clearing that removes its hosts kills it too. Periodic woods fires do it no lasting harm, so long as the hosts survive.

Plants are male or female, and only females bear fruit, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. Bees, flies and beetles visit the flowers for their nectar and pollen.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (13)