Pieris floribunda

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Pieris floribunda
Piers floribunda a2.jpg
Flower raceme in March
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
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.

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 0.9 to 1.8 metres (3 to 6 ft) 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 10 millimetres (1⁄2 in) 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 ]

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. ↑ NRCS. "Pieris floribunda". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (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
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