Rhododendron menziesii Craven

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron menziesii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-menziesii-1/). Accessed 2025-05-21.

Family

Ericaceae

Genus

Rhododendron

Synonyms

Menziesia ferruginea Sm.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

capsule: Dry dehiscent fruit; formed from syncarpous ovary.
corolla: The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
corolla: The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular: Bearing glands.

References

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron menziesii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-menziesii-1/). Accessed 2025-05-21.

Rhododendron menziesii is a plant of northwestern North America (Tillamook Co., OR; 11th June 2022). Image Julian Sutton.

Editorial Note

Formerly included in the small genus Menziesia, and treated under that name by Bean. Except for the subspheroidal capsule shape (in Rhododendron capsules are longer than wide) there was little morphologically to separate Menziesia from Rhododendron, and molecular analysis showed the genus to be nested within Rhododendron (Craven 2011).

Bean noted that the ‘menziesias’ succeed under the same treatment as rhododendrons but enjoy more sunshine; a moist, well-drained, lime-free, loamy or peaty soil suits them. The Japanese species grow slowly and are quite suitable for the large rock garden.’

A deciduous shrub usually 2 to 6 ft high; young shoots with stalked glands and finely downy; afterwards with peeling bark. Leaves narrowly oval or obovate, pointed, tapered at the base, 3⁄4 to 2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. wide, bristly hairy above and on the margins, less so beneath. Flowers nodding, in clusters of two to five, each on a glandular stalk 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Corolla cylindrical, 3⁄8 in. long, four-lobed, dullish white tinged with pink. Stamens eight, filaments glabrous or downy at the base. Capsule egg-shaped, glandular.

Native of western N. America from Alaska to N. California; in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon it has been found up to 12 ft high. This was the species discovered on the N.W. coast of America by Archibald Menzies during his voyage with Vancouver, 1790–5, and the one on which Sir James Smith founded the genus. Flowers in May but of no great worth in gardens.

R. pilosum of eastern N. America is closely allied, differing in its eglandular stems and in the more rounded, bell-shaped corolla. Also the gland-tipped hairs on the flower-stalks are short, whereas in R. menziesii they are bristle-like and more conspicuous.

Rhododendron menziesii growing wild in the understorey of moist coastal forest (Cape Lookout, Tillamook Co., OR; 11th June 2022). Image Julian Sutton.

Foliage of Rhododendron menziesii taking on a bluish cast at the Leach Botanical Garden, Portland, OR (19th June 2022). Image Julian Sutton.

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