Shrub to about 3 m tall. Leaves elliptic, about 8-15 cm long, pointed, waxy blue and hairless below. Flowers reddish brown to maroon, 4-6 cm wide; summer to autumn. Floral tube narrowed at the mouth. [Calycanthus fertilis Walter, c. floridus var. glaucus (Willd.) Torr. & a. Gray, c. glaucus Willd.]

Eastern North America

Two varieties are distinguished according to the hairiness on the undersurface of the leaf: var. laevigatus is hairless, var. floridus is softly hairy.

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Calycanthaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.