| Section 6 » Family Ericaceae |
Show/Hide Synonym
| taxonName | relationship | relatedTaxonName | relatedTaxonRefText | relComments |
|---|
|
| Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Gleason and Cronquist (1991) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Fernald (1950) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Flora of North America (1993b, 1997, 2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2004b, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2007a, 2009, 2010) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Gleason (1952) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Kartesz (1999) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Radford, Ahles, and Bell (1968) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Small (1933, 1938) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Flora of Virginia | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Wofford (1989) | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Menziesia pilosa | Flora of West Virginia | | | Rhododendron pilosum | = | Azalea pilosa | | | | Source: Weakley's Flora |
|
| Author | (Michaux) Craven | |
| Distribution | Throughout the Mountains (probably in all counties). An isolated specimen record from Iredell County (if correct).
This species is an Appalachian Mountain endemic, but it is not simply a “southern Appalachian” species, but it ranges into the central Appalachians, north to central PA. There are only a few records of the species into the Piedmont.
| |
| Abundance | Fairly common to locally common in the Mountains, but rather restricted in habitat, and thus not widely encountered across the province. | |
| Habitat | A common and sometimes dominant species of heath balds, and also present around the margins of exposed, high elevation rocky summits. It also occurs in rocky forests, and (oddly enough) found in bogs. It is mainly found over 4000 feet elevation. |
| Phenology | Blooms from May to July, later than most species of ericaceous shrubs; fruits from August to October. | |
| Identification | This deciduous shrub grows to about 5-6 feet tall. Though it has fairly thin, elliptical leaves like so many other shrubs, the species is somewhat unique in its pale “nipple” tip at the end of each leaf. The leaves also tend to have a wrinkled look, but the tip of the leaf is the primary identification character. It has dangling, small, urn-shaped, pale pink to rosy flowers -- like those of many huckleberries and blueberries -- that are not overly showy, but at high elevation mountaintops in early summer the flowers can be conspicuous, especially as many or most other shrubs are not in bloom then. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Long known as Menziesia pilosa, many recent authorities place this species – oddly so to most people – in the genus Rhododendron, as R. pilosum, even though its urn-shaped flower appearance is similar to so many other ericads such as huckleberries and blueberries and is nothing like the much larger and widely expansive colorful flowers of rhododendrons and azaleas (genus Rhododendron).
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | Allegheny Menziesia | |
| State Rank | S4 | |
| Global Rank | G4G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
