Catawba Rhododendron – Native Plant of the Day 01/12/2016
Photo from June 18, 2005. Location: GSMNP, TN. More photos / info at the
Rhododendron catawbiense detail page.
Catawba Rhododendron, Mountain Rosebay,Purple Rhododendron – Rhododendron catawbiense
Also NPOD 01/12/2011, 06/11/2011, 01/12/2012, 01/12/2013, 01/12/2014, 01/12/2015
I’ve always heard these called wild azaleas. We have them all over our NW Ga home. One bush is 9′ tall that is by north side of our house and gets a lot of water and sun. It is a wild azalea or rhododendron? The flowers almost look like wild honeysuckle, but are pink and on bushes.
According to current science, Azaleas and Rhododendrons are siblings in the same genus – Rhododendron. So based on that, technically all Azaleas are Rhododendrons, but not all Rhododendrons are Azaleas. There are a few characteristics that differentiate the Azalea group from the Rhododendron group within that genus – Rhododendrons have 10 stamens, while Azaleas have 5 to 7; some Azaleas are deciduous while all Rhododendrons are evergreen with generally thicker leaves; Azaleas generally have a thinner, more cylindrical corolla tube, while Rhododendron flowers tend more toward bell-shaped.