Shrub · Ericaceae
Maleberry
Lyonia ligustrina · includes its varieties and subspecies
Maleberry is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 587 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Maleberry at a glance
- Native in
- 587 counties, across 26 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −21°F
- Mature height
- 9 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Moisture use not recorded
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −21°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Maleberry is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 587 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 587 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 21 counties
- Arkansas 36 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 28 counties
- Georgia 53 counties
- Kentucky 11 counties
- Louisiana 14 counties
- Maine 10 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Mississippi 3 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 27 counties
- North Carolina 89 counties
- Ohio 2 counties
- Pennsylvania 52 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Carolina 28 counties
- Tennessee 33 counties
- Texas 10 counties
- Vermont 3 counties
- Virginia 91 counties
- West Virginia 24 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 9 ft
- Growth rate
- Not recorded
- Growth form
- Not recorded
- Shape
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Not recorded
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Not recorded
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 39 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Not recorded
- Salinity tolerance
- Not recorded
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −21°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 128
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Not recorded
Other
- Toxicity
- Not recorded
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Not recorded
- Family
- Ericaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LYLI
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Lyonia ligustrina (PLANTS symbol LYLI), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources