Photo: Alex Abair, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Titi

Cyrilla racemiflora

Also called swamp titi, swamp cyrilla, red titi.

Fragrant white flower sprays in early summer and orange-red leaves in fall, on a thicket-forming shrub of southern swamps whose flowers give a dark honey.

Showy flowersHoney treeTolerates wet soilFall colorWildlife valueWinter interest

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 8–30 ft
USDA zones: 5–10
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks, swamps and wet flats
Native range: 9 states, north to Virginia, south to Florida and west to Texas
List all 9
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia
Also recorded in 1 other state, outside its native range. See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Titi is a shrub or small tree of southern wetlands whose shallow roots send up new shoots, so one plant can spread into a thicket. Honey producers value the dark honey bees make from its flowers. Farther south it is nearly evergreen, while in the north its leaves turn orange-red in fall and hang on until spring. It may live more than 100 years. Mass it along a ditch, a pond edge or a rain garden, where a thicket is welcome.

Size, growth and what to expect

Titi grows at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. It often stays near 10 feet in gardens but reaches 30 feet in the wild. It spreads 10 to 15 feet.

Its fragrant white flowers crowd narrow sprays 3 to 6 inches long. They open from May into July, sometimes again in September or October. The tiny capsules ripen from late August into early October. They hang on into winter. Birds and other wildlife eat the fruit.

It grows wild on the coastal plain from southeast Virginia to Florida and west to Texas, and south to northern South America. Its home is swamps, bottomlands, bogs, pocosins, Carolina bays and wet flatwoods. It is sometimes planted, and it has escaped locally in Delaware.

How to grow Titi

Titi grows well in full sun or part shade, and it survives in shade under a closed canopy. It wants a soil high in organic matter, acid to neutral, that stays moist to wet, and it takes flooding. It tolerates heat and compacted soil, and it takes drier ground if you water it in dry spells. Give it room, since it does poorly crowded by other trees and shrubs. Plant it 8 feet from a wall, and set plants 8 feet apart for a hedge. Keep it 15 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant in late fall or early spring, 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. Seed needs no cold or warm treatment and can be sown directly. Most seeds do not sprout.

Water weekly through the first summer unless the ground stays wet. Deer browse titi heavily, so cage young plants for two or three winters. Cut back root shoots that stray past the bed, and prune only dead wood.

Titi carries both male and female parts in each flower and bees carry the pollen. Sources disagree on whether a lone shrub sets fertile seed, so plant two from different parents for seed. It has no serious pests or diseases. Its toxic pollen causes purple brood in honeybee colonies, so it is unsuitable for beekeepers.

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

Sources (8)

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