558 



ERICACEAE. 



[VOL. II. 



2. AZALEA L. Sp. PI. 150. 1753. 



Erect mostly tall branching shrubs, with alternate thin deciduous leaves. Flowers 

 large, white, purple, yellow, pink, or orange, in terminal umbels developed from cone-like 

 scaly buds. Calyx small or minute, 5-parted. Corolla fuunclform, the tube mostly nar- 

 row, the limb nearly regularly 5-lobed or somewhat 2-lipped. Stamens 5 (rarely 10), ex- 

 serted, usually declined; anthers awnless, attached to the filaments by their backs, the cells 

 opening by terminal pores; style slender, declined, exserted. Ovary 5-celled ; ovules numer- 

 ous in the cavities. Capsule oblong or linear-oblong, 5-celled, septicidally 5-valved from the 

 summit, many-seeded. [Greek, dry, from its habitat] 



About 40 species, natives of North America and Asia. Besides the following, 2 others occur on 

 the Pacific coast. 

 Flowers expanding before or with the leaves. 



Flowers pink or white. 



Leaves strigose on the midrib beneath; corolla-tube hirsute. i. A. nudiflora. 



Leaves canescent beneath; corolla-tube glandular. a. A. canescens. 



Flowers orange, yellow or red; leaves canescent beneath. 3. A. lulea. 



Flowers expanding later than the leaves. 



Leaves shining, glabrous beneath. 4. A. arborescens. 



Leaves strigose on the midrib beneath. 5. A. inscosa. 



i. Azalea nudifldra L. Wild Honeysuckle. Pinkster-flower. Purple or 



Pink Azalea. (Fig. 2743.) 



Azalea nudiflora L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 214. 1762. 

 Rhododendron nudiflorum Torr. Fl. N. & Mid. U. 

 S. 424. 1824. 



A shrub, 2-6 high, branched above, often 

 simple below, the twigs glabrous, or with stiff 

 hairs. Leaves oblong or obovate, acute at both 

 ends, short-petioled, hairy on the midrib and 

 sometimes on the lateral veins beneath, glabrous 

 or with a few scattered hairs above when old, 

 sometimes canescent on the lower surface when 

 unfolding, 2'-4' long, the margins ciliolate; 

 pedicels strigose, 4 x/ -7" long; flowers pink to 

 nearly white, expanding before or with the 

 leaves, faintly odorous, the limb somewhat 2- 

 lipped, i #'-2' broad, shorter than the narrow 

 tube, which is pilose-pubescent and little or not 

 at all glandular; stamens much exserted; cap- 

 sule linear-oblong, strigose, S"-$" long, erect. 



In dry sandy or rocky woods and thickets, Maine 

 to Illinois, south to Florida and Texas. Ascends to 

 7000 ft. in Virginia. Reported from Canada. Its 

 fungus is called Honeysuckle- or Swamp-Apple. 

 Apnl-May. 



2. Azalea canescens Michx. Moun- 

 tain Azalea. (Fig. 2744.) 



Azalea canescens Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 150. 1803. 

 Rhododendron canescens Porter, Bull. Torr. Club, 

 16: 220. 1889. 



A branching shrub, 4-i5 high, the twigs 

 glabrous or sparingly pubescent. Leaves oval, 

 elliptic or sometimes obovate, wider and 

 shorter than those of the preceding species, 

 permanently more or less soft-cancscent and 

 pale beneath and stiff-hairy or pubescent on 

 the veins, varying to nearly glabrous, the 

 margins ciliolate-serrulate; pedicels glandular; 

 flowers rose-color to white, very fragrant, ex- 

 panding with or before the leaves; corolla limb 

 often 2' broad, about equalling the rather 

 stout, densely glandular but scarcely viscid 

 tube; stamens slightly exserted; capsule linear- 

 oblong, narrowed above, glandular, 6"-8" long. 



In woods, Massachusetts to the Catskill and 

 Shawungunk Mountains, New York, Pocono 

 plateau of Pennsylvania, south, especially along the 

 Alleghanies,to Florida and Louisiana. April-May. 



