1 Leaves lanceolate, 3.5-5× as long as wide; fruits black when ripe; [non-native]

1 Leaves obovate, ovate, or elliptic, 1.5-2.5× as long as wide; fruits red when ripe; [native, collectively widespread in our region].

  2 Leaves typically with a thick, subcoriaceous texture (though sometimes thinner in texture if growing in shade), 4-8 (-10.5 in male plants) cm long, 2-3.5 (-4.8 in male plants) cm wide, narrowly obovate (and characteristically also with smaller broadly obovate leaves basal on the branches), pubescent and strongly whitened below; leaves and bark aromatic, the odor lemony

  2 Leaves with a thin, membranous texture, 6-16 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, obovate, elliptic, or ovate, glabrous to pubescent below, but not strongly whitened; leaves and bark strongly aromatic, the odor spicy or like sassafras.

    3 Leaf base cuneate; leaves widely obovate, plane (not rugose), with a short-acuminate apex, glabrous above, borne horizontally, spicy-fragrant when crushed; shrubs not colonial, often multi-stemmed from base, short to tall (to 5 m tall); fruiting pedicels 3-5 mm long

    3 Leaf base widely cuneate to rounded; leaves narrowly ovate, reticulate-rugose, with an acute apex, pubescent above, drooping, fragrant when crushed with an odor like sassafras; shrubs colonial, short (to 2 m tall); fruiting pedicels 7-12 mm long