Clethra alnifolia
Cultivar: Ruby Spice
Coastal Sweet-pepperbush
Clethraceae (Clethra Family)
Range: eastern United States
Bloom Period: June-August
Light: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
Attracts: Birds, Hummingbirds, Bees, Butterflies
NCBG Location: Found throughout the Habitats, Education Center Landscape, and Totten Center Landscape.
The cultivar Ruby Spice is distinctive for the rose-pink color of its spicily fragrant flowers. They are borne in 3- to 4-inch-long inflorescences in late summer. Though there are a number of pink-flowered cultivars of this species, the color persists best in the flowers of Ruby Spice.