By Andrew Palinski, Apprentice

Dirca palustris, commonly referred to as leatherwood, wicopy or rope-bark, is a small attractive shrub belonging to Thymelaeaceae family.  The shrub is dispersed across a vast expanse of eastern North America, ranging from the Province of Quebec to the northern portion of Florida.  Specifically, leatherwood populates swamp margins, as the species name “palustris” indicates, as well as rich, low lying woodlands.[1]  Leatherwood can be cultivated in zones 3-8 and tolerates shade to partial sun in moist soils.

Stocky and slow in growth, the shrub is capable of reaching 6 feet in height and width.  Its brown branches are tinged with a gray hue and are remarkably pliable.  In fact, the name leatherwood refers to its use as bow string and fishing line by Native Americans.[2]  Leatherwood’s leaves are alternate, short petiolate and offer late seasonal interest, turning a sublime pale-yellow in autumn. The shrub blooms in early spring producing small waxy yellow flowers clustered in groups of three that hang from bud-scales.  Subtle as they may be, the delicate flowers dangle from meandering branches like jewelry and offer the otherwise stout shrub an abundance of elegance.  Green fruits form when pollination has occurred and ripens quite quickly, turning white before falling to the forest floor.

Although introduced to cultivated landscapes in 1750, leatherwood has unfortunately never been popularized as a garden shrub.[3]  Its growth, if slow, is uniform so that the shrub consistently holds a pleasing shape without excessive maintenance.  Furthermore, leatherwood’s lethargic growth makes it a quintessential shrub for smaller spaces as it can be relied upon not to grow out of a garden’s spatial constraints.[4]       

[1] Dirca palustris L., Catalog of the Woody Plants of Oklahoma, B.W. Hoagland, F.L. Johnson, in the Oklahoma biological survey, http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/shrub/dirc-pal.htm.

[2] William Cullina, Native Trees Shrubs and Vines: A guide to using, growing, and propagating North American woody plants (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002), 112.

[3] Dirca palustris L., Catalog of the Woody Plants of Oklahoma, B.W. Hoagland, F.L. Johnson, in the Oklahoma biological survey, http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/shrub/dirc-pal.htm.

[4] Edgar Anderson, “Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University,” Bulletin of Popular Information series 4. vol. 1, no.5(1933), http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1203.pdf.