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The Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus cv. Athens) belongs to the family Chimonanthus (the Wintersweet family). It is a small deciduous tree that is a cultivar of "Eastern sweetshrub" selected by the University of Georgia State Botanical Garden in the United States. "Athens" is named after the city of Athens, Georgia. It grows moderately and can take 15 to 20 years to reach a height of almost 2 m. The leaves are large, 14-16 cm long, ovate to broad elliptic, pointed, bright green and shiny. They will tern yellow in fall. From May to June, the sweet fragrant lime green flowers come in bloom. Regarding the coloring of petals, it is an albino type due to the lack of the pigment anthocyanin. It is also a poisonous plant that contains the alkaloid Calycanthine in its seeds.
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