AZALEA ATLANTICA ASHE AND ITS VARIETY LUTEO- 



ALBA N. VAR. 



By W. C. CoKER 



Plates 1 and 7 

 For about eight years I have had under observation a striking spe- 

 cies of Azalea, a typical and abundant constituent of low, damp, pine 

 barrens of the coastal plain. My brother, James L. Coker, Jr., first 

 called my attention to the distinction between this species and A. 

 nudiflora, which blooms at the same time and with which it is often 

 confused by careless observers. The species is not included in the 

 treatment of the genus in the North American Flora by Dr. Small, 

 but in April, 1917, Mr. W. W. Ashe published in the Bulletin of the 

 Charleston Museum (13 : 26. 1917) a new species, Azalea ailantica, the 

 description of which agrees well with our plants except that the color 

 was said to be rose-purple or reddish. As our plant has essentially 

 white flowers throughout its range it seemed improbable that they 

 could be the same. However, on talking with Mr. Ashe he admitted 

 that the flowers were nearly pure white when open, thus removing the 

 principal point of difference. I have also now at hand a specimen in 

 flower from the type locality (Georgetown, S. C.) sent me by Mr. 

 T. G. Harbison on April 26, 1918, and find it the same as Hartsville 

 specimens in all essentials. T now have the plant (from Hartsville) 

 in cultivation in the Arboretum of the University of North Carolina, 

 where it flowered this year. 



Azalea atlantica Ashe. 



The typical form of the species, as I have observed it, may be 

 described as follows : 



Shoots low, slender, strict, hairy or glandular when young, smooth 

 later, sparingly branched, about 1.5-55 cm. (6-18 in.) high, springing 

 from underground runners and thus forming extensive colonies ; leaves up to 

 about 4 cm. long and 1.7 cm. broad, elliptic to obovate, the base pointed at the 

 very short petiole, the tip with a short mucro, margin not recurved or slightly so, 

 ciliate with curved tooth-like hairs, upper surface smooth or sparingly pubescent, 

 the lower nearly smooth or moderately pubescent, grayish-green, the midrib not 

 ciliate (or ciliate, at least when young, in the Georgetown plants). Flowers 

 appearing during the Avhole of April, 3-4.5 cm. long, glandular and sparingly 

 pubescent or only glandular, not hairy, very fragrant, unfolding before the 

 leaves or in part lagging and simultaneous ; corolla tube 2-3 cm. long, expanding 



