# Pondspice (Litsea aestivalis) > A rare coastal plain shrub of pond and swamp edges, with zigzag twigs, small leathery leaves, yellow flowers before the leaves and red fruit. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pondspice/ ![Pondspice (Litsea aestivalis) 1812 hand-coloured plate of zigzag branches with leaves and yellow flowers](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/pondspice-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Sydenham Edwards, Public domain ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACurtis's_botanical_magazine_%28Plate_1471%29_%288248014536%29.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 10 to 15 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 9 - Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, swamps and wet flats - Native range: 7 states, north to Maryland, south to Florida and west to Louisiana (Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia) - Sun: Part, Shade - Soil moisture: Wet, Average - Growth rate: Medium - Traits: Rare, Tolerates wet soil, Tolerates shade, Wildlife value, Fall color - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Pondspice is a rare deciduous shrub of the laurel family, a cousin of our spicebush with much smaller leaves. It grows at the edges of cypress ponds, sandhill ponds, Carolina bays and swamps on the coastal plain, from Maryland to Florida. Its zigzag twigs and small, leathery leaves set it apart all through the growing season. NatureServe ranks it globally vulnerable, and Florida and Maryland list it as endangered. Set it at the wet edge of a pond, where birds will find its red fruit. ## Size, growth and what to expect No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, like our spicebush, about a foot and a half a year. It makes a heavily branched shrub or small tree, usually 10 to 15 feet tall, with zigzag twigs. Its narrow, leathery leaves are only 0.6 to 1.6 inches long, and they turn bright yellow in fall. Unlike spicebush, its twigs and leaves have no spicy scent. Clusters of tiny yellow flowers open at the tips of the bare twigs in March and April, before the leaves. Its round, bright red fruit, up to 0.4 inch across, ripens from May or June and shows into fall. Birds and small mammals eat the fruit. The leaves feed the caterpillars of the palamedes and spicebush swallowtails. It grows wild at the edges of cypress ponds, limesink ponds, Carolina bays and swamps. It spreads by root suckers into thickets around pond margins, and it sprouts back vigorously after fire. ## How to grow Pondspice Pondspice grows best in part shade or light shade. It wants acid, sandy or peaty soil that stays moist to wet, and it will not stand long droughts. Set plants 6 feet apart and keep them 6 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Sow it as spicebush is sown. Clean the seed from the red fruit and sow it outdoors in fall, a quarter to half an inch deep under mulch, before it can dry out. For a spring sowing, keep it in damp sand in the refrigerator for three to four months. Keep it watered through dry spells, since it needs soil that never dries out. It needs no pruning. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants and only females carry fruit, so plant three to five seedlings to get both. Flies and small bees probably carry the pollen, drawn to nectar at the base of the female flowers. Laurel wilt, a fungus carried by an introduced beetle, has killed pondspice in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. It blocks the water-conducting wood, so the leaves wilt and the plant can die quickly. The beetle breeds in pondspice stems, though from 2011 to 2020 the disease struck it less hard than redbay. Plant only stock known to be free of laurel wilt, and only where it will not give the disease new hosts. Remove any plant that wilts suddenly in summer, and never move firewood. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Litsea aestivalis, pond-spice](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500753) - [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Field Guide, pondspice, May 2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/FieldGuides/Litsea_aestivalis.pdf) - [Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Biodiversity Portal: Litsea aestivalis, pond spice](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=19918) - [NatureServe Explorer: Litsea aestivalis, Pondspice](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.136111/Litsea_aestivalis) - [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Litsea aestivalis](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/litsea-aestivalis/) - [Florida Native Plant Society: Litsea aestivalis, pondspice](https://www.fnps.org/plant/litsea-aestivalis) - [The Institute for Regional Conservation, Natives for Your Neighborhood: Litsea aestivalis](https://www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.asp?tx=Litsaest) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Litsea aestivalis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LIAE) - [Atlas of Florida Plants: Litsea aestivalis](https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant/species/3554) - [USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Disease Recovery System: Recovery Plan for Laurel Wilt on Redbay and Other Forest Species, updated January 2015, compiled by M. A. Hughes and J. Smith](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/00000000/opmp/Redbay%20Laurel%20Wilt%20Recovery%20Plan%20January%202015.pdf) - [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Element Tracking Summary, 6/18/2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/tracking/element_tracking_summary_current.pdf) - [Maryland Natural Heritage Program: List of Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants of Maryland, 2021](https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Documents/rte_Plant_List.pdf) - [Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation: Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia, Rare Plants, June 2026](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf) - [North Carolina Natural Heritage Program: 2024 Rare Plant List, revised 11/03/2025](https://www.ncnhp.org/media/833/open) - [Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Biodiversity Portal: Georgia protected plants table, 07/07/2026](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/table/ga_protected/) - [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ECOS species report](https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/177) - [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Litsea aestivalis](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/LIAE) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md) - [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md) - [Native trees and shrubs for birds: caterpillars, fruit, mast, nests and winter cover, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-birds/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Pondspice, add ?species=pondspice with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=pondspice&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Pondspice](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=pondspice): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=pondspice - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Pondspice is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=pondspice - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Pondspice needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=pondspice:3 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Pondspice flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.