This is widespread in eastern states, except the upper midwest. It is especially common in mesic woodland with much Acer saccharum, Quercus rubra, Fagus or Liriodendron, but it is generally rare to absent in areas with more history of disturbance on eutrophic soils (especially under Celtis or Juglans, unlike Asimina). Like Asimina, Lindera is generally not browsed by mammalian herbivores in Ky., and with dense deer populations it often becomes common in the understory of mesic woods. However, hungry deer (and perhaps rabbits) will sometimes eat shoots, especially in more northern regions, leading to sprouts with lower N content (Lind et al. 2012, Shrestha & Lubell 2015). With diverse chemistry (including phenolics, terpenes, lactones, methylketoalkenes and aporphine alkaloids), Lindera has much traditional use in medicine, especially for colds, dysentery and intestinal parasites (e.g. Babcock & Segelman 1974, Anderson et al. 1992, Tucker et al. 1994). Wild animals may also use the plant for medicine; Audubon (1831) noted, "To prevent the disastrous effects of rainy weather, the mother, like a skilful physician, plucks the buds of the spice-wood bush, and gives them to her young." The Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly feeds largely on Lindera, Sassafras or other Lauraceae. Scattered plants in Ky. with more hairy leaves and twigs have been called var. pubescens (Palmer & Steyermark) Rehd., which may form a reasonable southern segregate (W). However, no significant difference in range or habitat has been found within Ky. The more southern L. mellissifolia (Walt.) Blume was reported from central Ky. by Linney (1880, 1882), but those records are unbelievable. That species is more hairy than L. benzoin var. pubescens and there are other differences (FNA 3, W). It does extend north to se. Mo. and might be expected in Ky. on bottomlands of the Mississippi Rv., growing on poorly drained soils with Liquidambar, Quercus texana (nuttallii), Q. lyrata, Q. phellos, Ulmus americana, Fraxinus pennsylvanica and other trees (Hawkins et al. 2009).