Rhododendron flammeum

Oconee azalea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Rhododendron
Species: R. flammeum
Binomial name
Rhododendron flammeum
(Michx.) Sarg.
Synonyms[1]

Azalea calendulacea var. flammea Michx.

Rhododendron flammeum, the Oconee azalea, is a plant species native to the US States of Georgia and South Carolina. It is found in dry woods and stream bluffs at elevations less than 500 m. The common name is taken from Oconee County, South Carolina.[2]

Rhododendron flammeum is a deciduous shrub up to 2.5 m tall, usually not producing rhizomes. Leaves thin, ovate, up to 9 cm long, without teeth. Inflorescences have up to 12 flowers each. Flowers opening in the Spring before the leaves have formed, funnel-shaped up to 50 mm long, bright red to orange with a darker splotch on the upper lobe.[2][3][4]

References

  1. Tropicos
  2. 2.0 2.1 Flora of North America v 8 p 466.
  3. Sargent, Charles Sprague. 1917. Rhododendron Society Notes 1: 120.
  4. Michaux, André. 1803. Flora Boreali-Americana 1: 151.