Rhododendron flammeum (Michx.) Sarg.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron flammeum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-flammeum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Azalea calendulacea var. flammea Michx.
  • Rhododendron speciosum (Willd.) Sweet, not Salisb.
  • Azalea nudiflora var. coccinea Ait.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
ciliate
Fringed with long hairs.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glandular
Bearing glands.
lobe
Division of a leaf or other object. lobed Bearing lobes.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
precocious
The production of flowers/inflorescences prior to leaf emergence. (Cf. coetaneous serotinous.)
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron flammeum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-flammeum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Deciduous shrub, to 2.5 m; young twigs densely covered with eglandular hairs. Leaves (3–)3.9–6.3(–8.2) × 1.5–2.4(–2.7) cm, ovate or obovate to elliptic, lower surface densely eglandular-hairy or glabrous. Flower bud scales with outer surface covered with unicellular hairs, rarely glabrous. Flowers with an acrid fragrance, appearing before or with the leaves, 6–11, in a shortened raceme; calyx 1–3(–5) mm; corolla scarlet to orange, funnelform, tube abruptly expanding into the limb, outer surface of corolla covered with eglandular hairs, 27–45 mm. Capsule with eglandular-hairs. Flowering April. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  United States SE

Habitat s.l.-500 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

Taxonomic note R. flammeum differs from the allied R. prunifolium and R. cumberlandense in the precocious flowers that appear before the leaves. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

A deciduous azalea up to 6 ft high; young shoots finely downy and bristly. Leaves obovate, oval, or oblong, 112 to 212 in. long, half as much wide; upper surface bristly, lower one finely downy with bristles on the midrib; margins bristly; stalk 16 in. long. Flowers opening in April and May, up to as many as fifteen in a truss. Corolla funnel-shaped, about 134 in. long, the tube slender, cylindric, and downy outside; scarlet or bright red with an orange-coloured blotch on the upper lobe. Stamens five, 2 in. long, downy below the middle. Ovary clothed with bristly, not glandular hairs; style 2 in. or more long, downy at the base. Calyx with five very small, ciliate, ovate, or oblong lobes. Flower-stalks bristly. (s. Azalea ss. Luteum)

Native of the S.E. United States from Georgia to S. Carolina. This, the most brilliantly coloured of all American azaleas, was in cultivation as long ago as 1789, and was figured in the Botanical Magazine in 1792 (t. 180). Old plants may still be in gardens, but the name appears to have been lost. It was in cultivation at Kew in 1881 as ‘Azalea nudiflora coccinea’. Plants were sent to England by Professor Sargent in 1916. It has been confused with R. calendulaceum, but differs in the slender corolla-tubé which is not glandular as it is in that species. The flowers also are more numerous in the truss, and the colour ‘is always scarlet or bright red and never varies to yellow’ (Rehder). R. calendulaceum is a more northern shrub and hardier, but, as may be gathered from what is stated above, R. flammeum is quite hardy in this country. No doubt many of our richest- coloured deciduous azaleas owe much of their vivid red and scarlet hues to this species.