These plants inhabit moist bottomlands and floodplain forests of mature hardwoods in the Southeast.
Some populations are too small to reproduce.
The pondberry, also known as the southern or downy spicebush, is a six-foot shrub with fragrant deciduous leaves, pale yellow flowers, and reddish fruit which is relished by birds such as the wood thrush and veery. It is one of two spicebushes native to the United States. The pondberry lives in moist bottomlands and floodplain forests of mature hardwoods in the Southeast. Like many wetland species, this flowering plant is endangered because of the loss of wetlands to logging, cattle grazing, domestic hog operations, and agriculture. In addition, some populations of the plant are too small to reproduce, and some are declining due to an unknown pathogen.