Fothergilla major

Mountain witch alder is in the witch-hazel or Hamamelidaceae family and is native to the southeastern U.S., primarily in mountain woods, ravines and along stream banks in the southern Appalachians in North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. It is a slow-growing, deciduous shrub that grows 2.5 m tall.

• Leaves are simple, alternate, broad ovoid, 4–10 cm long and 3–8 cm broad, dark green, leathery above and blue-gray beneath, toothed in the upper 2/3rds of the leaf. Foliage turns exquisite red, orange and yellow in the fall.
• Flowers are 2.5–7.5 cm long tiny, fragrant, without petals but with conspicuous clusters of white stamens 2–3 cm long, in terminal, bottlebrush-like spikes, blooming in April-early May after the foliage emerges.
• Fruit is a non-ornamental, beaked, egg-shaped 2-seeded capsule up to 1.3 cm long, maturing in the fall and eventually bursting to explosively broadcast its seed.