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Paxistima canbyi
Also called Cliffgreen, Rat Stripper
Canby's mountain-lover is a small evergreen shrub or groundcover, usually 8 to 16 inches tall, native to the Appalachian region of the eastern United States and rare in the wild. It is finicky in cultivation, so the key is moist but well-drained, acidic, organic soil in a shady, sheltered spot.
Paxistima canbyi is a species of small broadleaf evergreen shrub or groundcover that is usually about one foot (0.30 m) high, but can grow up to almost three feet (0.91 m) high. It is in the family Celastraceae, and is known by the common names of Canby's mountain-lover, rat-stripper, ratstripper, Canby paxistima, or cliff green.
It is native to the Appalachian Region of the eastern United States. Canby's mountain-lover is rare throughout its natural range from south-central Pennsylvania south to northwestern North Carolina to western Kentucky and southern Ohio. It grows in USDA hardiness zones 3 to 7. In the wild it grows over a large range of conditions from a shady site with moist, organic soil to full sun with calcareous, rocky soil on uplands and cliffs. When trying to grow it in a garden or landscape, it is best to grow it in a moist but well-drained organic acidic soil in a shady, sheltered site, as it is finicky and often does not adapt to cultivation and dies out even with good conditions. It is a rare plant in landscapes, but is sold by some large or specialty or native plant nurseries, usually in small pots, as a groundcover.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Paxistima canbyi by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
