Spotlight Species #2: Redbay

Spotlight Species #2:
Redbay (Persea borbonia)

What to Look For:
Redbay can grow as a tree of bush from 30 - 70 feet tall. The bark is a reddish-brown. In the summer, redbay produces small yellow-green flowers in clusters and a dark blue spherical fruit.

Where to Find It:
Redbay grows in the rich moist soils along swamps and streams throughout the Waccamaw River Blue Trail. You will definitely find them around the shoreline of Lake Waccamaw.

Why It Is a Spotlight Species:
Bay trees are often credited with being the origin of the term “Carolina Bay” because they tend to grow around the bays.
These trees have a high mortality rate in South Carolina due to laurel wilt disease, a fungal disease carried by the redbay ambrosia beetle. One beetle can kill an entire tree!

Publicado el 27 de marzo de 2021 por waccamaw_riverkeeper