Shrubs , 2 m (to 4 m when shaded). Young twigs pubescent, glabrescent with age. Leaves horizontal to mostly ascending, faintly aromatic (piny lemon) when young, becoming essentially odorless with age; petiole 3-10 mm, pubescent. Leaf blade elliptic to oblanceolate, 4-8 × 2-4 cm, somewhat leathery, base cuneate, margins ciliate when young, apex obtuse to rounded; surfaces abaxially pubescent, adaxially pubescent when young, becoming glabrous with age. Drupe ellipsoid, ca. 10 mm; pedicels of previous season not persistent on stem, slender, to 4 mm, apex not conspicuously enlarged.

Flowering spring. Evergreen-shrub bogs, acidic swamps of blackwater swamp forests, acidic seepage bogs; Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains and adjacent Piedmont; of conservation concern; 0-200 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C., Va.

Lindera subcoriacea was described originally from Mississippi and Louisiana. R. D. McCartney et al. (1989) reported it from the other sites.