Kalmia buxifolia

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Kalmia buxifolia
Sand-myrtle - Flickr - pellaea.jpg
Status TNC G4.svg
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Kalmia
Species:
K. buxifolia
Binomial name
Kalmia buxifolia
(Bergius) Gift & Kron
Synonyms

Leiophyllum buxifolium

Kalmia buxifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae known by the common name sandmyrtle, or sand-myrtle. It is native to the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States, where it has a disjunct distribution, occurring in three separate areas. It is known from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas, and the southeastern Blue Ridge Mountains. [1]

This species is sometimes called Leiophyllum buxifolium, the only member of the monotypic genus Leiophyllum. [2] Genetic analysis supports its inclusion in genus Kalmia. [3]

This species is quite variable in appearance. [2] It is a shrub growing 10 centimeters to one meter in height. The leaves may be alternately or oppositely arranged on the stems. They are oval to lance-shaped and up to 1.4 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a raceme or umbel of up to 18 flowers with white or light pink petals. The fruit is a capsule a few millimeters long. [4]

This species grows in a variety of habitat types in its fragmented range, including sandy plains in the Carolinas and rocky mountain woods. [1]

The Latin specific epithet buxifolia means "box-leaved", referring to species in the genus Buxus . [5]

The species [6] and the cultivar 'Maryfield' have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Kalmia latifolia</i> Species of plant

Kalmia latifolia, the mountain laurel, calico-bush, or spoonwood, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, that is native to the eastern United States. Its range stretches from southern Maine south to northern Florida, and west to Indiana and Louisiana. Mountain laurel is the state flower of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. It is the namesake of Laurel County in Kentucky, the city of Laurel, Mississippi, and the Laurel Highlands in southwestern Pennsylvania.

<i>Rhododendron</i> Genus of flowering plants in the heath family Ericaceae

Rhododendron is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, but smaller numbers occur elsewhere in Asia, and in North America, Europe and Australia.

<i>Geranium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Geraniaceae

Geranium is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, with the greatest diversity in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region.

<i>Fuchsia</i> Genus of plants

Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees.

<i>Cornus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the dogwood family Cornaceae

Cornus is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and some species are evergreen. Several species have small heads of inconspicuous flowers surrounded by an involucre of large, typically white petal-like bracts, while others have more open clusters of petal-bearing flowers. The various species of dogwood are native throughout much of temperate and boreal Eurasia and North America, with China, Japan, and the southeastern United States being particularly rich in native species.

<i>Arbutus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the heather family Ericaceae

Arbutus is a genus of 12 accepted species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands and North America known as madrones. The name Arbutus was taken from Latin, where it referred to Arbutus unedo.

<i>Pieris</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants in the heath family Ericaceae

Pieris is a genus of seven species of shrubs in the flowering plant family Ericaceae, native to mountain regions of eastern and southern Asia, eastern North America and Cuba. Known commonly in North America as andromedas or fetterbushes, they are broad-leaved evergreen shrubs growing to 1–6 metres tall and 3–10 ft (0.9–3.0 m) wide. The leaves are spirally arranged, often appearing to be in whorls at the end of each shoot with bare stretches of shoot below; they are lanceolate-ovate, 2–10 cm (0.8–3.9 in) long and 1.0–3.5 cm (0.4–1.4 in) broad, leathery textured, and with an entire or serrated margin. The young leaves in spring are typically brightly coloured. The flowers are bell-shaped, 5–15 mm (0.2–0.6 in) long, white or pink, and arranged in racemes 5–12 cm (2.0–4.7 in) long. The fruit is a woody capsule which splits into five sections to release the numerous small seeds.

<i>Kalmia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the heath family Ericaceae

Kalmia is a genus of about ten species of evergreen shrubs from 0.2–5 m tall, in the family Ericaceae. They are native to North America and Cuba. They grow in acidic soils, with different species in wet acid bog habitats and dry, sandy soils.

<i>Xerophyllum asphodeloides</i> Species of flowering plant

Xerophyllum asphodeloides is a North American species of flowering plants in the Melanthiaceae known by the common names turkey beard, eastern turkeybeard, beartongue, grass-leaved helonias, and mountain asphodel. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs in the southern Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to Alabama, and also in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

<i>Gaylussacia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Gaylussacia is a genus of about fifty species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to the Americas, where they occur in eastern North America and in South America in the Andes and the mountains of southeastern Brazil. Common English names include huckleberry and "dangleberry".

<i>Kalmia angustifolia</i> Species of shrub

Kalmia angustifolia is a flowering shrub in the family Ericaceae, commonly known as sheep laurel. It is distributed in eastern North America from Ontario and Quebec south to Virginia. It grows commonly in dry habitats in the boreal forest, and may become dominant over large areas after fire or logging. Like many plant species of infertile habitats it has evergreen leaves and mycorrhizal associations with fungi. It is also found in drier areas of peat bogs.

<i>Anemone hepatica</i> Species of flowering plant

Anemone hepatica, the common hepatica, liverwort, liverleaf, kidneywort, or pennywort, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. This herbaceous perennial grows from a rhizome.

<i>Gaylussacia brachycera</i> Species of plant

Gaylussacia brachycera, commonly known as box huckleberry or box-leaved whortleberry, is a low North American shrub related to the blueberry and the other huckleberries. It is native to the east-central United States.

<i>Calochortus invenustus</i> Species of flowering plant

Calochortus invenustus is a species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name plain mariposa lily.

<i>Alyxia buxifolia</i> Species of plant

Alyxia buxifolia, otherwise known as the sea box or dysentery bush, is a species of evergreen shrub in the family Apocynaceae.

<i>Fothergilla major</i> Species of flowering plant

Fothergilla major, the large witch alder or mountain witch alder, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Fothergilla, family Hamamelidaceae, that is native to woodland and swamps in the Allegheny Mountains and southern Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern United States. It is a deciduous shrub growing to 2.5 m with fragrant white bottlebrush flowers appearing along with, or before, the glossy leaves. The leaves often turn brilliant shades of red and orange in autumn.

<i>Acacia buxifolia</i> Species of legume

Acacia buxifolia, commonly known as box-leaf wattle, is shrub species that is endemic to eastern Australia.

<i>Nemesia caerulea</i> Species of flowering plant

Nemesia caerulea is a blue- to purple- flowered herbaceous perennial member of the family Scrophulariaceae. The plant is native to the Cape Floristic Province of southwestern South Africa, where it grows at low elevations on fully exposed north-facing and northwest-facing slopes in association with other native grasses and forbs. Its chromosome number is 2n=18.

<i>Leucothoe fontanesiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Leucothoe fontanesiana, also known as the highland doghobble, fetter-bush, mountain doghobble or switch ivy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to the southeastern United States. It is an erect evergreen shrub growing to 1–2 m (3–7 ft) tall by 3 m (10 ft) broad, with laurel-like glossy leaves 6–16 cm (2–6 in) long, and pendent axillary racemes of urn-shaped flowers in spring.

References

  1. 1 2 "Leiophyllum buxifolium". Center for Plant Conservation. 2010-09-28. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06.
  2. 1 2 Strand, A. E.; R. Wyatt (1991). "Geographical variation and biosystematics of sand myrtle, Leiophyllum buxifolium (Ericaceae)" (PDF). Systematic Botany. 16 (3): 529–545. doi:10.2307/2419341. JSTOR   2419341. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-21.
  3. Kron, K. A.; J. M. King (1996). "Cladistic relationships of Kalmia, Leiophyllum, and Loiseleuria (Phyllodoceae, Ericaceae) based on rbcL and nrITS data". Systematic Botany. 21 (1): 17–29. doi:10.2307/2419560. JSTOR   2419560.
  4. "Kalmia buxifolia". Flora of North America.
  5. Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN   978-1845337315.
  6. "Kalmia buxifolia". www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  7. "Kalmia buxifolia 'Maryfield'". RHS. Retrieved 26 September 2020.