Agarista populifolia
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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
Recommended citation
'Agarista populifolia' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Lyonia populifolia (Lam.) K.Koch
- Andromeda acuminata Ait.
- Leucothoe acuminata (Ait.) G.Don
- Andromeda populifolia Lam.
- Leucothoe populifolia (Lam.) Dippel
Other taxa in genus
Editorial Note
The text below is based on that of Bean (1981) who discussed this taxon under the name Leucothoe populifolia. We have created this hybrid article—an adapted version of Bean’s text under the correct modern name, with appropriate synonymy—whilst we await sponsorship to enable a full revision of this genus to be written.
Distribution United States Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina
USDA Hardiness Zone 5-9
An evergreen shrub said to attain a height of 12 ft in the wild, but usually 2 to 4 ft high in cultivation; stems glabrous, hollow except for fine plates of pith. Leaves glabrous, ovate-lanceolate, 11⁄4 to 4 in. long, slenderly tapered at the apex to an acute point, finely and irregularly serrated or entire, fairly conspicuously net-veined on both sides. Racemes axillary, peduncled, few-flowered; pedicels slender, 1⁄4 to 3⁄8 in. long. Calyx-lobes triangular. Corolla cylindric, white, about 3⁄8 in. long; filaments of stamens with an S-shaped bend near the apex; anthers not awned.
A native of the S.E. United States; introduced 1765, but not common in gardens. A. populifolia is the only North American representative of the 29 species that constitute Agarista sect. Agarista, most of which are found in Central and South America, from Mexico to northeastern Argentina. It is an elegant foliage-shrub, hardy in a sheltered place south of London and westwards. Its wood was used by the Native Americans for making pipe-stems.