Pieris floribunda

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Pieris floribunda
Piers floribunda a2.jpg
Flower raceme in March
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Pieris
Species:
P. floribunda
Binomial name
Pieris floribunda
Synonyms [2]
  • Andromeda floribundaPursh 1813
  • Portuna floribunda(Pursh) Nutt.
'Forest Flame' Pieris forest flame A.jpg
'Forest Flame'

Pieris floribunda is a North American species of broadleaf evergreen shrub, a member of the fetterbush genus in the blueberry family (Ericaceae). It is commonly known in North America as mountain fetterbush [3] or mountain andromeda. [4] All parts of Pieris floribunda are poisonous if ingested. [5] In landscapes it should be grown in full to part shade, out of windy locations, and have a good quality soil with much organic matter with acidity of pH 4.5 to 6.5.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The mountain fetterbush is less subject to damage from the Azalea lacebug that often infests the related Pieris japonica .

Description

Pieris floribunda is a bushy shrub growing to around three to six feet (0.9 to 1.8 m) high with oval shiny, leathery leaves which are normally evergreen, but may shed in a harsh winter to brown and persist until spring. It has erect or erect with just slightly nodding panicles of white urn-shaped flowers that form in autumn as erect pink buds. The brown, dry fruit is a slightly angled globular capsule about 12 inch (13 mm) long in autumn and persisting until late April. The gray-brown bark is shaggy and peeling when mature. [5] [6] [7]

Distribution

Pieris floribunda is native to the eastern United States, primarily the southern Appalachian Mountains in the States of Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia. [8] It thrives in areas of land disturbed by human activity. In common with other members of Pieris, it grows better on well drained soils. [4]

Cultivars

There is a cultivar of a hybrid between the American and Japanese species called 'Brouwer's Beauty' that does adapt easily to cultivation and bears intermediate flower clusters that are erect and yet drooping also.[ citation needed ]

The cultivar 'Forest Flame' is a large shrub to 4 m (13 ft), with leaves which go from red to pink to green. It produces small urn-shaped cream-coloured flowers in spring. It has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [9]

Related Research Articles

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

Pieris is a genus of seven species of shrubs in the 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.

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<i>Erica vagans</i>

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<i>Arctous alpina</i>

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<i>Vaccinium corymbosum</i> Species of plant

Vaccinium corymbosum, the northern highbush blueberry, is a North American species of blueberry which has become a food crop of significant economic importance. It is native to eastern Canada and the eastern and southern United States, from Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south as far as Florida and eastern Texas. It is also naturalized in other places: Europe, Japan, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest of North America, etc. Other common names include blue huckleberry, tall huckleberry, swamp huckleberry, high blueberry, and swamp blueberry.

<i>Ribes sanguineum</i> Species of flowering plant in the gooseberry family Grossulariaceae

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<i>Pieris japonica</i>

Pieris japonica, the Japanese andromeda or Japanese pieris, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern China, Taiwan, and Japan, where it grows in mountain thickets. This medium-sized evergreen shrub or tree is widely cultivated in gardens.

<i>Gaultheria hispida</i>

Gaultheria hispida, commonly known as the copperleaf snowberry, is an endemic eudicot of Tasmania, Australia. It is an erect multi-branched shrub, that can be found in wet forests and alpine woodlands. Its berries appear snowy white and leaves are tipped with a copper tinge, hence the common name.

<i>Ribes viscosissimum</i>

Ribes viscosissimum is a North American species of currant known by the common name sticky currant. It is native to the Pacific Northwest, Columbia Plateau, Great Plains, Great Basin and Southwestern regions of western North America.

<i>Scrophularia lanceolata</i>

Scrophularia lanceolata is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family known by the common names lanceleaf figwort and American figwort. It is native to North America, where it is known from western and eastern Canada and much of the United States except for the southeastern quadrant. Past common names include Western figwort when the western US plants were grouped under the name Scrophularia occidentalis and the eastern US plants were called Scrophularia leporella with the common name hare figwort.

<i>Arctostaphylos gabilanensis</i>

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<i>Arctostaphylos ohloneana</i>

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<i>Olearia floribunda</i> Species of plant

Olearia floribunda, commonly known as heath daisy-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.

<i>Lyonia lucida</i>

Lyonia lucida is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae known by the common names fetterbush lyonia, hurrahbush, and staggerbush. Other plants may also be called fetterbush. This broadleaved evergreen plant grows on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States from Virginia to Florida to Louisiana. It also occurs in Cuba.

<i>Leucothoe fontanesiana</i>

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. "Ericaceae - Pieris floribunda Benth. & Hook.f." International Plant Names Index . Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  2. The Plant List, Pieris floribunda (Pursh) Benth. & Hook. f.
  3. "Pieris floribunda". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA . Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Pieris floribunda". Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas.
  5. 1 2 "Native Plants". Pieris floribunda. New England Wild Flower Society.
  6. Flora of North America, Pieris floribunda (Pursh) Bentham & Hooker f., 1876. Fetterbush
  7. North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension description and photos
  8. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  9. "Pieris 'Forest Flame'". RHS. Retrieved 18 January 2021.