Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL had a great specimen of Atlantic Leatherwood for decades near its administrative building, but they totally re-arranged the site and it is not there anymore, but there is a good one in their Midwest or Rare Illinois Plants Collection. This species is native from Nova Scotia down to southern Alabama to east Oklahoma up to northern Minnesota, growing in woods with rich soil. I've never seen this plant in the wild. It is a good quality medium sized shrub for landscapes with handsome medium green foliage that just gets greenish-yellow in fall. The stout brown twigs are very flexible. The bark is smooth brown-gray that develops fine narrow irregular fissures when old. The yellow, narrow bell-shaped, trumpet flowers are tiny with 3 or 4 in a pendulous cluster in March-early April before the leaves or just with emerging ones. The plants bear reddish football-shaped berries in June-July that are eaten by birds. it is slow growing of less than 1 foot/year. It has shallow, but coarse lateral roots and is difficult to transplant and slow to re-establish. It is offered by some large, diverse nurseries, native and specialty nurseries, but only really known by landscape architects and designers, botanists, and some park district staff.

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The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana says you can find these plants in wet thickets. In April they appear as a leafless shrub with bunches of insignificant yellow flowers "and a bark so tough that we find it almost impossible to break off a branch." She says this is the Leatherwood used by Indians for thongs. She also gives it the common name of "Moose-wood." The leaves appear later and are followed by a reddish oval fruit.

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