Lindera bezoin

The northern spicebush is in the laurel or Lauraceae family and is native to eastern North America, ranging from Maine and New York to Ontario in the north, and to Kansas, Texas, and northern Florida in the center and south. It is a shrub with a broad, rounded habit, typically growing up to 3.5 m tall.

• Leaves are alternately arranged, simple, 6–15 cm long and 2–6 cm broad, oval or broadest beyond the middle of the leaf; edges are smooth, with no teeth; colour is dark green above and paler below; leaves and stems are very aromatic when crushed; in the fall, leaves are showy yellow.
• Plant is dioecious (plants are either male or female); clusters of tiny, aromatic, greenish-yellow flowers with no petals but 6 sepals bloom along the branches in early spring before the foliage emerges; male flowers are larger and showier than the females.
• Fruit is a red, elipsoidal, berry-like drupe with a "turpentine-like" taste and aromatic scent, containing a large seed.
• Bark is covered with small, circular lenticels which give it a rough texture.