| Scientific Name: | Clethra barbinervis |
| Common Name: | Japanese sweet shrub, Chinese summersweet |
| Family Name: | Clethraceae |
| Origin: | S.E. Asia / Japan / China |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 6: (-23 to -18 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Shrub - deciduous |
| Mature Size: | 2 - 3m x 2 - 3m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Dense |
| Form: | Round |
| Texture: | Medium - coarse |
| Landscape Uses: | Attract butterflies, Fragrance, Mixed shrub border, Summer interest, Woodland margin |
| Exposure: | Full sun, Part sun/part shade |
| Soil or Media: | Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Simple, Alternate, Soft flexible, Heavily veined, Pinnate venation, Glabrous, Elliptic, Obovate, Serrate, Serrulate |
| Flowers: | Raceme, White, Jul-Aug |
| Fruit: | Capsule, Brown, Aug-Sep, (Persistent) |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Leaves alternate, serrate with over 60 teeth per side, dark green, up to 13cm long; florets small, fragrant, white, in racemes up to 15cm long in late summer and autumn. Winter ID: mature specimens have attractive peeling bark; terminal bud about 6-10mm long; lateral buds < 1mm long; leaf scar rounded but notched at top for bud. | |