142 THE AZALEAS OP NORTH AMERICA 



lose, short. Flowers fragrant, appearing with the leaves, in April and May, in 

 usually 6- to 10-flowered umbel-like clusters; pedicels 0.5 to 1 cm. long, sparingly 

 villose and rather densely hirsute, glandless or glandular; sepals unequal, roundish 

 to ovate, 0.5 to 1.5 mm. long, densely setose, glandless; corolla funnel-form, white, 

 tube cylindric, gradually dilated at apex, 2 to 2.8 cm. long, rarely slightly shorter, 

 outside sparingly and more or less glandular-pilose or sometimes hirsute without 

 glands, lobes ovate or sometimes ovate-oblong, acute, 1.5 to 1.8 cm. long, distinctly 

 shorter than the tube; stamens twice as long as tube, scarcely declinate, the fila- 

 ments villose below the middle, the anthers yellowish, 2 to 3 mm. long; style 

 scarcely exceeding the longer stamens, 5 to 6 cm. long, finely villose toward the 

 base, whitish; ovary densely setose-strigose, glandular or nearly glandless. Capsule 

 (immature) cylindric-oblong, about 1.5 cm. long, sparingly and finely villose and 

 glandular-setulose or nearly glandless. 



ALABAMA . C u 1 1 m a n C o u n t y : Pine woods, May 2 1 , 1 902 , Biltmore 

 Herb. H/6292 1 (Nat. Herb. No 980,507, type); on rocky slope in woods 

 of Oak, Hickory and Pine, May 21, 1902, Biltmore Herb. H/6293 

 (Nat. Herb. No. 980,506); dry rocky hillside, May 19, 1902, Biltmore 

 Herb. H/6258 (Nat. Herb. No. 980,524); dry woods, May 19, 1902, 

 Biltmore Herb. H/6267, 6268 (Nat. Herb. Nos. 980,528, 980,511); 

 without special locality, May 19, 1902, Biltmore Herb. H/6259, 6262- 

 6265 (Nat. Herb. Nos. 980,525, 980,510, 980,523, 980,509, 980,527); 

 dry rocky open woods on the high tablelands, May 2, 1883, C. Mohr 

 (as R. (Azalea) nudiflora alba; "flowers snowy white, highly fragrant "). 

 Marshall County: Albertville, May 8, 1901, Biltmore Herb. 

 H/4290, 4292, 4293, 4295, 4297 (Nat. Herb. 969,632, 969,628, 969,682, 

 969,634, 969,658) ; dry woods, August 27, Biltmore Herb. H/2452 (Nat. 

 Herb. 969,617); October 12, 1900, Biltmore Herb. H/3321 (Nat. Herb. 

 969,649). Henry County : Abbeville, April 15, 1902, Biltmore Herb. 

 H/6112 (Nat. Herb. 980,513). 



As it appears from these specimens this species is known to me only from two 

 counties in northern and from one county in southeastern Alabama, but probably 

 it is more widely distributed through the northern and central part of the state; it 

 inhabits dry open woods and rocky hillsides and thus agrees in its habitat with the 

 northern R. roseum, while R. canescens, the other common Alabama species, prefers 

 damp woods and swamps. 



This new species is closely related to R. nudiflorum Torr., R. roseum Rehd. and 

 R. canescens G. Don. From the first species it is easily distinguished by the 

 much longer and slenderer corolla-tube, the pure white fragrant flowers, less long- 

 exserted scarcely declinate stamens and the pubescent leaves; from R. roseum 

 it differs in the glabrous winter-buds, the longer and slenderer corolla-tube, the 

 glandless setae of the sepals, in the white color of the flowers and in the glau- 

 cescent under side of the leaves; from R. canescens it is distinguished by the 

 glabrous winter-buds, the much less villose and more or less pilose corolla-tube, 

 less slender and more gradually dilated at the apex, by the less exserted stamens, 

 the larger limb, the densely strigose ovary, the less villose and more setose capsules, 



1 "H " stands for T. G. Harbison who collected for the Biltmore Herbarium. 



