Deciduous swamp fetterbush, swamp sweetbells

Andromeda racemosa Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 394. 1753; Cassandra racemosa (Linnaeus) Spach; Eubotrys elongata (Small) Small; E. racemosa var. elongata (Small) Small; Leucothoe elongata Small; L. racemosa (Linnaeus) A. Gray; L. racemosa var. projecta Fernald; Lyonia racemosa (Linnaeus) D. Don; Zenobia racemosa (Linnaeus) de Candolle

Stems erect, (0.3-)1-4 m, branches spreading. Leaves: petiole 1-3 mm; blade 3-8 cm, surfaces pilose on major veins abaxially. Inflorescences (deciduous around anthesis), erect or ascending, secund, straight, 3-5 cm; bracts ± deciduous, lanceolate, 4-5 mm. Flowers: calyx campanulate, sepals lanceolate, 2-3 mm, apex acute; corolla white, 7-9 mm, lobes recurved, glabrous; stamens 2-4 mm; anthers 4-awned, ca. 1.5 mm, thecae divergent distally; ovary glabrous. Capsules 2-3 mm wide. Seeds not winged, wedge- to crescent-shaped, not flat, 1-1.2 mm. 2n = 22.

Flowering late spring-summer. Swamps, pond shores, streamheads and their ecotones, blackwater shores and banks, cypress depressions, wet pine flatwoods, wet, sandy, acidic woods; 0-400 m; Ala., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., La., Md., Mass., Miss., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.

Eubotrys racemosa occurs primarily on the coastal plain; there are scattered records inland from the Hudson Highlands of New York, and from northern Alabama and central and eastern Tennessee.