You guys have me all confused. ... I wish it was a cycad... I really want one of those. My neighbor has one. I've been waiting two years for that thing to produce offsets. Still hasn't happened. I don't think this thing is a cycad. The leaves are very soft. Not hard, like the everyday cycads I've encountered. Soft like day lily leaves. Kinda rubbery-ish too. Like, a jade plant. My husband just told me it was the rhizomes they ate... Any other ideas?

Wow. That's about the nicest clethra I've ever seen -- and you say it is naturalized? It sure is a butterfly magnet, too -- I am jealous!

Sam, The leaves are much smaller than Elaeagnus umbellata although the shape of the blossoms is almost identical. From above the leaves look a lot like common privet in size and shape, with the bottoms looking just a little whitish. The jpgs named top and bottom show both sides of the leaves of a twig, with a shoe for scale. The plant is in bloom only a short time, and small green berries follow. I don't recall exactly how long last year's berries remained attached, but they were not conspicuous at any stage, and I don't recall any color other than green. I also did not notice how many seeds they contained. The bush is deciduous and leafs out just before blooming. In fall the leaves yellow somewhat before dropping.

If it flowers with red blooms, then not Carpenteria. That comes in white only. Leaves look similar but habit of plant in photo looks too uniform and upright for what is usually a rather sprawly, irregular, multi-branched shrub.