Wafer Ash

Description

Botanical Name:  Ptelea trifoliata

Common Name:  Wafer Ash, Hop Tree, Threeleaf Hop-Tree, Shrubby-trefoil, Swamp Dogwood, Skunk-bush, Potato-chip Tree, Quinine-tree, Cola de Zorillo, Wingseed, Ague-bark, Prairie Grub, Pickaway Anise

Description:  Cool little Florida native shrub/tree that is deciduous. It usually grows as a rounded shrub, but can be grown as a tree 10 – 15′ tall and wide. It has a slow to moderate growth rate.

Small, greenish white flowers bloom in April. Tan colored wafer-like samaras (seeds) ripen in August and September, and persist on drooping clusters through the winter. The flowers have a citrus scent, and the crushed leaves have a citrusy aroma. Is in the Rue family.

This is a host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Giant Swallowtail caterpillars. Is a nectar plant for butterflies. Is considered deer resistant. Carrion flies pollinate the flowers.

Very adaptive in where it grows: sun, part sun, part shade, to shade areas, moist or dry, but it prefers a moist area if you have one. However, “moist” does not mean wet. The Wafer Ash will drop all her leaves if she gets too wet. She’ll grow them back, but she’ll keep doing that if the area she’s planted in stays too wet (that tidbit is from my personal experience lol). Grows in sand, sandy loam, loam, and  clay loam soils.

Its native habitat is in floodplains, rich woodlands, and upland mixed forest.

Very pretty plant that should be used more in our gardens.

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water. Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray.

This plant in 3-gallon containers is 1 – 3 feet tall

Plant Lore:  The common name refers to a reported use in earlier days of the bitter fruit as a substitute for hops in brewing beer. The bitter bark of the root, like other aromatic barks, has been used for home remedies. The northernmost New World representative of the Rue (Citrus) family.

Florida Hardiness Zones 8 – 9