North American azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus Rhododendron, section Pentanthera, subsection Pentanthera, so named because they all have five stamens.[1] Most are in the United States, with one species found in Canada and one being found in Mexico. North American azaleas are commonly confused with azaleas of Asian origin, the evergreen azaleas. North American azaleas are deciduous and produce two types of buds. One is a larger and produces about 20 flowers while the other bud produces a leafy shoot.[1] The flower color, fragrance, and number of stamens vary among species.
Rhododendron alabamense is found most commonly in Alabama. It can also be found in southern Tennessee, east Georgia, the panhandle of Florida, and eastern Mississippi. This is not a common species, despite its range. It can be found in moist places that are sandy and flat. It is also found in steep, dry areas, like bluffs. The flowers can smell musky or sweet, and lemony. The flowers are white, white with a yellow patch, or light pink. They are sticky due to glandular and non-glandular hairs on the floral tubes. The leaves are dull to slightly glossy, and dark to medium green. The flowers are produced from April into early June.[1]
Rhododendron arborescens
Rhododendron aborescens
Rhododendron arborescens is also called the sweet azalea. It grows from Alabama to Pennsylvania, along the top of wet mountains and near fast moving streams. The flowers can be up to 2 inches wide, white, and commonly have a yellow patch on them. It would be rare to see a light pink color or light yellow. The pistil and the filaments are normally red. This characteristic makes it easy to identify the species. The flowers have white tubes. This azalea is sometimes also called the smooth azalea for its new leaf growth has no hair, making it smooth to the touch. The leaves range from a blue-green, dark green, or a medium green, and the underside is a light white color. The leaves are usually glossy. Its seeds are granular. Plants blooms from May to August.[1]
Rhododendron atlanticum
Rhododendron atlanticum
Rhododendron atlanticum, the dwarf azalea, grows on the coastal plain from Georgia to Delaware. It can be found up to 200 miles away from the coast, if the region is sandy, swampy, or dry. These plants can spread by rhizomes if the soil is loose. The flowers can be white or a light pink color, and are fragrant. The flower tubes are the same colors, and are glandular. The pinkish red glands form a line onto each petal tip. Leaf color ranges from gray-green to blue-green. Dwarf azaleas are commonly less than two feet tall. They bloom in the months April and May.[1]
Rhododendron austrinum
Rhododendron austrinum is also called the Florida azalea. It is closely related to R. canescens, and it can be difficult to tell the two apart. It is found in the panhandle of Florida, and the southern regions of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. It has become a popular species in North America because it is easy to grow, is very colorful, and also early to bloom. The flowers range between yellow, orange, and gold. The tubes are a pink/red. The pink color may be a hybrid between this azalea and R. canescens. The stems, leaves, and tubes are glandular. They can grow up to 15 feet and grow well in the sand, and heat. They bloom from March to April.[1]
Rhododendron calendulaceum
Rhododendron calendulaceum is commonly called the flame azalea for its bright yellow, orange, or red color. It is considered to be a very attractive species that people associate with the Appalachian Mountains. It grows from 800 to 6,000 feet elevation ranging from the Piedmont to the Mountains. It can grow up to 12 feet in length. The flowers are 2-3 inches in width. The flower tubes are glandular. This azalea blooms from April to July.[1]
Rhododendron canescens
R. canescens
Rhododendron canescens also has the common names Piedmont Azalea, Southern Pinxter Azalea, and Wild Azalea. It grows in areas where swamps, pocosins, and savannas are present. R. canescens grows in northeast North Carolina, north Tennessee, southeastern Kentucky, southern Illinois, eastern Oklahoma, southern Arkansas, the peninsula of Florida, and southeast Texas. It blooms early March to May.[2]
Rhododendron colemanii
Rhododendron colemanii is commonly called the Red Hills azalea. It grows in moist areas like near streams, hammocks, and bluffs. It starts to bloom early to mid-May. It grows in Alabama and western Georgia along the upper Coastal Plain.[2]
Rhododendron cumberlandense
Rhododendron cumberlandense, or Cumberland azalea grows most commonly in the Cumberland Mountains west of the blue ridge. [1] It is commonly called the Cumberland azalea. This species can be confused with R. calendulaceum and R. flammeum due to the color of the flowers. They grow at higher elevations, and grow up to 10 feet, despite normally growing low to the ground and twiggy. The leaves are glossy, with a dull underside, and emerge later in the season. They bloom from May to July.[1]
Rhododendron eastmanii
R. eastmanii
Rhododendron eastmanii is commonly called the May-white azalea.[3] It is found only in South Carolina. It is a newer species, being named by Kron and Creel in 1999. There are 60 documented locations of this azalea in the wild. It is commonly found on steep slopes, usually facing northeast. They were also commonly found near streams. The pH of the soil they grow in varied from 4.6 to 6.8. The soil was composed of 65% to 90% sand, depending on location.[3] This species flowers in May and has white petals, normally with a yellow blotch.
Rhododendron flammeum
Rhododendron flammeum, also known as the Oconee azalea after the river in Georgia where was first discovered.[1] With a species name of flammeum, it can be confused with the flame azalea (Rhododendroncalendulaceum).[1] Growing in the form of a shrub in dry woods, on slopes, ridges and stream bluffs, the Oconee blooms in the spring.[4]
Rhododendron occidentale
Rhododendron occidentale flowers in spring and summer, with a wide range of flower colors. It grows in moist areas near streams, wooded areas, bogs, bottoms of canyons, thickets, and ocean bluffs. Flower color ranges between white, pink, and salmon. The color blotches on the petal range from yellow to orange most commonly.[4]
Rhododendron periclymenoides
Rhododendron periclymenoidesused to be called Rhododendron nudiflorum.[1] Growing in the form of a shrub, the flowers range in color from white to pink, with no blotches of color on the upper petal. This azalea blooms in the spring in moist wooded areas along streams, thickets, and swamps.[4]
Rhododendron prinophyllum
Rhododendron prinophyllum is a shrub, that has deciduous and hairy leaves. The pink flowers it produces is not likely to have any splotches of color on the upper petal. R. prinophyllum grows in swampy, wet areas like bogs, thickets, streams but can be in dry areas like rocky woods and bluffs, blooming in the spring.[4]
Rhododendron prunifolium
R. prunifolium
Rhododendron prunifolium is also called the plumleaf azalea. The flower color ranges from orange to red. It has smooth, large leaves that grow early in the season. The stem is also smooth, along with the flower tubes. A bush of the plumleaf azalea can grow up to more than 20 feet. This plant only grows in eleven counties on the border of Alabama and Georgia where creeks and ravines are present, blooming from July to September. Sometimes this species has pink flowers, which could be a hybrid with the sweet azalea.[1]
Rhododendron viscosum
Rhododendron viscosum is also known as the swamp azalea, catch-fly azalea (due to sticky and glandular hairs), and clammy azalea.[1] Its large land area includes growth on the coastal area of Mississippi, and along the east coast from Florida to Maine. In addition to the coastal areas, the swamp azalea can be found inland in higher elevations. It can also be found in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. As swamp azalea implies, it prefers damp areas. Leaf shape and color vary greatly; from a bland grey-green, to a blue green, and from small and narrow and small to round and large. The texture of the leaf can be smooth, or rough. It is sometimes confused with R. aborescens, but can be distinguished upon comparison of leaf textures. The stem of R. aborescens is smooth, and R. viscosum has a hairy stem that is slimmer. The flowers are usually white and fragrant. This azalea is in bloom from May to September.[1]
Other species
Rhododendron luteum is in the subgenus Pentanthera, but it is not a North American species. It grows in Europe.[5]
Related Research Articles
Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus Rhododendron, particularly the former sections Tsutsusi (evergreen) and Pentanthera (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks. Shade tolerant, they prefer living near or under trees. They are part of the family Ericaceae.
Rhododendron atlanticum, the dwarf azalea or coastal azalea, is a species of Rhododendron native to coastal areas of the eastern United States, from New Jersey south to Georgia.
Satsuki azalea is a cultivar group of the genus Rhododendron, a type of azalea extensively cultivated and hybridized by the Japanese. It is native to the mountains of Japan.
Eustoma, commonly known as lisianthus or prairie gentian, is a small genus of plants in the gentian family. They are native to warm regions of the southern United States, Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America. This genus is typically found in grasslands and in areas of disturbed ground.
Astartea is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. The genus name was inspired by Astarte, the Greek name for the goddess Ishtar.
Rhododendron occidentale, the western azalea or California azalea, is one of two deciduous Rhododendron species native to western North America. The western azalea is known to occur as far north as Lincoln and Douglas Counties in Oregon and as far south as the mountains of San Diego county. Typically found in the coastal ranges of western North America, it also grows in the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, but is not known east of them.
Rhododendron schlippenbachii, the royal azalea, is a species of Rhododendron native to the Korean Peninsula and adjacent regions of Northeast China, Japan, and the Russian Far East. It is the dominant understory shrub in many Korean hillside forests, growing at 400–1,500 m (1,300–4,900 ft) altitude.
Rhododendron calendulaceum, the flame azalea, is a species of Rhododendron. It is a deciduous shrub that grows up to 120–450 cm tall. This species of Rhododendron is native to the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, ranging from southern Pennsylvania and Ohio to northern Georgia. It may be extirpated from Pennsylvania and Alabama. It occurs naturally in mixed deciduous forests and is typically found in woodland slopes and mountain balds in the Appalachians, where it prefers dry and rocky mountain woods. The inflorescences of Rhododendron calendulaceum are visited by many animals such as bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and small mammals. It is a popular cultivated plant due to its bright yellow, orange or red flowers.
Rosa carolina, commonly known as the Carolina rose, pasture rose, or prairie rose, is a perennial shrub in the rose family native to eastern North America. It can be found in nearly all US states and Canadian provinces east of the Great Plains. It is common throughout its range and can be found in a wide variety of open habitats, from thickets and open woods to roadsides and along railroads.
Calochortus albus is a North American species in the genus Calochortus in the family Liliaceae. It is also known by the common names fairy lantern, white fairy lantern, pink fairy lantern, lantern of the fairies, globe lily, white globe lily, white globe-tulip, alabaster tulip, Indian bells,satin bells, snowy lily-bell, and snow drops.
Arabis aculeolata is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Waldo rockcress.
Rhododendron menziesii, also classified as Menziesia ferruginea, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, known by several common names, including rusty menziesia, false huckleberry, fool's huckleberry and mock azalea.
Rhododendron periclymenoides, the pink azalea or pinxter flower, is a species of shrub in the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern North America, where it is widespread from Alabama to New Hampshire. It is often found in riparian areas, in wet to dry forests.
Rhododendron arborescens, also known as smooth azalea or sweet azalea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to the eastern seaboard of the United States.
Rhododendron austrinum is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names Florida flame azalea, honeysuckle azalea, southern yellow azalea, and orange azalea. It is native to the southern United States, where it can be found in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. It is also a common ornamental plant.
Primula poetica, synonym Dodecatheon poeticum, is commonly known as the poet's shooting star or the narcissus shooting star. P. poetica is a species of the genus Primula placed in section Dodecatheon. It is native to the states of Oregon and Washington in western North America. The section contains herbaceous flowering plants and is also a part of the primrose family Primulaceae. This plant has basal clumps of leaves and drooping flowers that occur at the apex of tall stems that rise from where the leaves join.
Pinguicula lutea, commonly known as the yellow butterwort, is a species of warm-temperate carnivorous plant in the family Lentibulariaceae. It grows in savannas and sandy bog areas of the Southeastern United States.
Piedmont azalea is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
Brachyscome graminea, commonly known as grass daisy, is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to Australia. It has mostly mauve-pink or purple daisy-like flowers and a yellow centre.
Rhododendron kawakamii is a plant endemic to Taiwan. It is also called Kawakami's rhododendron, as the type specimen was collected by Takiya Kawakami and others from Mount Niitaka. This species is the only native, epiphytic, yellow flowered rhododendron in Taiwan, and is scattered in the fog forest belt of the island at an altitude of about 1,500 to 2,500 m. It was first published as a new species by Bunzo Hayata in 1911. The wild community was assessed as "near-threatened" in the Taiwan Red Book of Vascular Plants in 2017.
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