SWEET AZALEA 



Azalea arborescens Pursh 



The sweet azalea is one of the contributions to our flora from the 

 Appalachian Mountains, where so many attractive plants were found 

 by the early botanists. Its delightfully fragrant, spicy, white flowers 

 appear in June when the leaves are well developed and afford a fine 

 green background for the blossoms. The foliage often turns brilliant 

 red in late autumn. 



The plant loves a well drained, deep, moist, acid soil, and under 

 favorable conditions becomes a spreading clump, which blooms freely. 

 It is perhaps the largest of our native azaleas, occasionally attaining a 

 height of twenty feet. 



Sweet azalea occurs in the mountains from Georgia northward 

 into Pennsylvania. 



The sketch was made from a plant found in the vicinity of Linville, 

 North Carolina, at the foot of Grandfather Mountain. 



PLATE 55 



