wild azalea
Rhododendron canescens
  • FAMILY: ERICACEAE
  • ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: bush honeysuckle
  • LEAVES: alternate, simple, deciduous, soft, pubescent; 1-2.5”, entire; leaves clustered at branch tips, appear whorled
  • FLOWER: showy, white to pink; 1-2”, corolla long tubular, stamens 3x longer, abruptly flaring, glandular hairy; March to April, before leaves fully developed
  • FRUIT: capsule, 3/4 inch
  • TWIGS: thin, curving, brittle, brown
  • BARK: new stems green; old, brown
  • FORM: shrub to 2 meters
  • HABITAT: moist upland acid soils
  • WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative Wetland (FACW): Usually occurs in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
  • RANGE: southeast US
  • USES: ornamental
  • Best Recognition Features:
    1. showy spring flowering
    2. soft pubescent leaf
    3. new stem - green; old stem - brown
    4. leaves appear whorled at branch tips

    NOTES: Florida azalea (Rhododendron austrinum) has golden yellow flowers and is found on the coastal plain Florida to Mississippi; swamp or summer azalea (Rhododendron serrulatum) has white flowers in July and August