Styrax obassia

Fragrant snowbell in the styrax or Styracaceae family is native to Hokkaido Island in Japan and to China. Its name is suggestive of the long raceme of fragrant, white, bell-shaped flowers produced May to June.

• Leaves are dark green and are not as attractive as Japanese snowbell (S. japonicus) and since they are quite large (8–20 cm) and sometimes hide the beauty of the flowers. Leaves are elliptic to rounded, up to 20 cm across, dark green above and blue-gray, densely hairy below, turning yellow in the fall.
• Flowers are 2.5 cm long, 5-lobed corolla, white with yellow anthers, fragrant and in racemes up to 15 cm long.
• Fruit is egg-shaped and 2 cm long with a single seed inside. Outer husk is initially green, becoming gray-brown in fall; in winter, husk splits to reveal brown seed pod.