Photo: Fepup, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Florida Leucothoe

Agarista populifolia

Also called Florida hobblebush, Florida doghobble, tall fetterbush, pipe-stem wood, Leucothoe populifolia.

A tall evergreen for shady stream banks, with arching stems, red new leaves and fragrant white bells hanging beneath the branches in spring.

EvergreenShowy flowersTolerates wet soilTolerates shadeWildlife valueErosion control

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 8–12 ft
USDA zones: 5–9
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Stream banks, the forest understory, the coast, swamps and wet flats
Native range: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina See what is native in your state

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Florida leucothoe is a tall evergreen heath shrub of southern swamps and stream banks. It is the only one of about 31 species of Agarista that reaches the United States, and the rest grow from Mexico to South America and in Africa. Native Americans made pipe stems from its wood, and its shoots are hollow except for thin plates of pith. It grows taller than our mountain doghobble and suffers less leaf scorch in southern gardens. South Carolina ranks it critically imperiled. Plant it along a shady stream or pond edge, where its suckering stems hold the bank.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator uses a medium rate, about a foot and a half a year. It makes an arching, many-stemmed shrub 8 to 12 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide, and some reach 20 feet.

Fragrant, creamy white bells hang in clusters beneath the branches from April into June. Each bell is a quarter to three eighths of an inch long. The new leaves emerge red and turn glossy green, and the capsules split in September and October. Songbirds use its evergreen thickets for winter cover and nesting.

It grows wild on the coastal plain from southeastern South Carolina to northern Florida, in swamps and wet hammocks and around springs and streams. William Bartram reported it on the Saint Marys River in 1791, but Georgia now has only old records.

How to grow Florida Leucothoe

Florida leucothoe grows in part shade or shade. It wants a cool, moist, acid soil rich in organic matter, and it takes ground that floods now and then. Its arching stems sucker into a colony, so give it room to spread. Set plants 5 feet apart and keep them 3 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Plant them in fall or early spring, in a hole wider than the root ball and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with leaves or pine straw, clear of the stems. No published test gives a sowing method for this seed, so any sowing is a trial. Its heath relatives sprout on the surface of a damp, acid mix in good light, with no chilling.

Water weekly through the first two summers unless the site stays wet. Deer seldom browse it. It flowers on old wood, so prune only right after flowering, and pruning then can hold it at any height.

Florida leucothoe carries both male and female parts in each flower, and bees and butterflies visit the fragrant bells. In a close relative, some plants set seed with their own pollen and others do not, so plant two or more seedlings from different parents for seed. It has no serious pests or diseases. The leaves are highly poisonous if eaten, so keep it away from pets and horses.

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

Sources (7)

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