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Symplocos tinctoria
Conservation status
	; Secure (NatureServe)
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Symplocaceae
Genus:	Symplocos
Species:	S. tinctoria
Binomial name
	Symplocos tinctoria; (L.) L'Her.

Symplocos tinctoria (the common sweetleaf,^[3] horse-sugar, or yellowwood) is a deciduous or evergreen shrub or tree. It is recognized by pith of twigs chambered; by foliage not notably aromatic when bruised, leaves finely hairy beneath. Shrubs or trees to 17 m tall by 36 cm diameter at breast height. The largest first-year twigs are under 3 mm across, terminal buds with acute tip, scales ciliate. Leaves are 7–15 cm long, margin entire or occasionally some teeth on the apical half, with a sweet taste that may be faint in old leaves. It is conspicuous when in flower; flowers opening before new leaves develop, fragrant, in clusters from axils of previous year's leaves or from just above the leaf scars if the leaves have fallen; the petals are creamy yellow to yellow, with one pistil. Fruits nearly cylindrical to ellipsoid drupes 8–12 mm long, with thin pulp and a hard stone containing one seed; the tip usually retaining parts of the sepals. Foliage is relished by browsing wildlife. A yellow dye may be obtained from bark and leaves. It flowers March to May.^[4]

Distribution and habitat

Symplocos tinctoria is native to the southern and eastern United States, to an area from Oklahoma east to Florida and north to Maryland.^[5] Occasional, plants are often scattered; uncommonly grouped; thin to dense woods of slopes, bluffs, broad-leaf woods of sandy soils, stream borders and stable dunes. It is the only representative of the genus in North America.

Ecology

The foliage is relished by browsing wildlife.^[6] The branches are parasitised by galls of Exobasidium symploci that visually resemble fruits of the plant.^[7]