7.
Rhododendron maximum
Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 392. 1753.
Rosebay, great laurel
Rhododendron ashleyi
Coker
Shrubs or trees
, to 10 m, sometimes rhizomatous.
Stems:
bark smooth to vertically furrowed, shredding; twigs multicellular stipitate-glandular-hairy and eglandular-hairy (hairs basally branched, crisped/matted), glabrate in age.
Leaves
persistent; petiole multicellular-hairy (hairs ± branched), often glabrescent; blade oblong to obovate or elliptic, (6-)9-20(-31) × (1.5-)2-5(-8) cm (length/width ratio 2.4-8), thick, coriaceous, margins entire, revolute to ± plane, glabrous or sparsely hairy (hairs branched), apex acuminate to sometimes acute, surfaces scattered stipitate-glandular-hairy and eglandular-hairy (hairs forming dense mat, basally branched, crisped, abaxially becoming sticky and matted, forming ± scaly or continuous, pale, shellaclike coating, smooth to slightly roughened, hairs ± deciduous adaxially).
Floral bud scales
stipitate-glandular-hairy, eglandular-hairy (hairs ferruginous, crisped), and short unicellular-hairy abaxially, margins hairy (hairs branched, long-celled).
Inflorescences
10-25-flowered; bracts similar to bud scales.
Pedicels
17-60 mm, multicellular stipitate-glandular-hairy.
Flowers
opening after development of leaves (of flowering shoots), erect to horizontal, not or only slightly fragrant; calyx lobes 2-6 mm, stipitate-glandular-hairy; corolla white to pink, rarely deep pink to purple, with yellowish green spots on upper lobe, campanulate, 20-36 mm, scattered stipitate-glandular-hairy on outer surface, petals connate, lobes 10-23 mm, tube gradually expanding into lobes, 7-16 mm; stamens 10, included, ± unequal, 14-26 mm; (ovary stipitate-glandular-hairy).
Capsules
borne on erect pedicels, 8-20 × 4-6.5 mm, stipitate-glandular-hairy.
Seeds
without distinct tails, flattened portion of testa well developed at each end; testa expanded, dorsiventrally flattened, loose.
2
n
= 26.
Flowering summer. Stream banks, mesic woods; 0-1900 m; Ala., Conn., Ga., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va.
Individuals of
Rhododendron maximum
are beautiful, cold-hardy shrubs and are frequently cultivated as ornamentals. Hybrids with
R. catawbiense
occur. This species has been attributed in standard floras to eastern Canada but not confirmed there by specimens.
