''Styrax americanus'', the American snowbell or mock-orange, is a plant species native to the southeastern United States and the

Ohio Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

. It has been reported from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. It generally grows in swamps and on floodplains and in other wet locations.Flora of North America v 8 p 342.
/ref> ''Styrax americanus'' is a shrub or small tree up to 5 m (17 feet) tall. Leaves are elliptic to ovate, up to 10 cm (4 inches) long. Flowers are borne in the

axils A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

of some of the leaves. Two varieties of this species exist: * ''Styrax americanus var. americanus'' (American snowbell) common to swamp forests and wet habitats ranging from West Virginia south to Florida and west to Texas and Missouri. * ''Styrax americanus var. pulverulentus'' (downy American snowbell) common to wet pine flatwoods ranging from South Carolina south to Florida and west to Texas and Missouri.

References

americanus Flora of the United States {{Ericales-stub