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Styrax
Also called Snowbells, Storax
Styrax, the snowbells, is a genus of about 130 species of shrubs and small trees, mostly from warm temperate to tropical Asia and the Americas. Commonly grown members are small ornamental trees that do best in fertile, moist but well-drained soil in sun or part shade.
Styrax (common names storax or snowbell) is a genus of about 130 species of large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae, mostly native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the majority in eastern and southeastern Asia, but also crossing the equator in South America. The resin obtained from the tree is called benzoin or storax (not to be confused with the Liquidambar storax balsam), often used as a vanilla-like component in perfumery.
The genus Pamphilia, sometimes regarded as distinct, is now included within Styrax based on analysis of morphological and DNA sequence data. The spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a different plant, in the family Lauraceae.
The resin of Styrax acts to kill wound pathogens and deter herbivores. Consequently, for example, few Lepidoptera caterpillars eat storax compared to other plants. Those of the two-barred flasher (Astraptes fulgerator) were recorded on S. argenteus, but they do not seem to use it on a regular basis.
Styrax · Styrax hemsleyanus · Japanese snowbell · Fragrant Snowbell
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Styrax 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.
