The Natural Bridge What Ain't, Part 8: One More Bit of Trailside Botany | Natural Bridge State Resort Park, Kentucky
On a foot trail leading to the natural-bridge-that's-really-a-natural-arch.
One of the chief floral glories of eastern North America's Cumberland Plateau and Appalachians is Rhodendron maximum, the species I still call the Rosebay Rhododendron. That despite the fact there's a tendency nowadays to use the alternative common name of Great Laurel instead. But the latter is more misleading because it suggests the plant shown here in bloom is a Laurel Family (Lauraceae) member. However, it actually belongs, as all the many New- and Old-World Rhododendron species do, to the Ericaceae (Heath Family).
And yes, I realize that both the "rose" and the "bay" in my own preferred moniker refer to other families, too, but at least they're followed by the taxonomically correct "rhododendron."
As its specific epithet suggests, this prominent understory denizen can get really large for a shrub—it can easily overtop even the tallest bipedal botanist. And it often forms large and dense clonal stands. My favorite example of this, described and extolled in my Plant Explorer's Guide to New England, is found at New Hampshire's Rhododendron State Park.
The plants shown here were shorter and probably younger specimens, but in addition to showing off their blossoms nicely they provided an excellent view of their simple, entire-margined, and evergreen foliage.
To see the other photos and descriptions of this series, visit The Natural Bridge What Ain't album.
The Natural Bridge What Ain't, Part 8: One More Bit of Trailside Botany | Natural Bridge State Resort Park, Kentucky
On a foot trail leading to the natural-bridge-that's-really-a-natural-arch.
One of the chief floral glories of eastern North America's Cumberland Plateau and Appalachians is Rhodendron maximum, the species I still call the Rosebay Rhododendron. That despite the fact there's a tendency nowadays to use the alternative common name of Great Laurel instead. But the latter is more misleading because it suggests the plant shown here in bloom is a Laurel Family (Lauraceae) member. However, it actually belongs, as all the many New- and Old-World Rhododendron species do, to the Ericaceae (Heath Family).
And yes, I realize that both the "rose" and the "bay" in my own preferred moniker refer to other families, too, but at least they're followed by the taxonomically correct "rhododendron."
As its specific epithet suggests, this prominent understory denizen can get really large for a shrub—it can easily overtop even the tallest bipedal botanist. And it often forms large and dense clonal stands. My favorite example of this, described and extolled in my Plant Explorer's Guide to New England, is found at New Hampshire's Rhododendron State Park.
The plants shown here were shorter and probably younger specimens, but in addition to showing off their blossoms nicely they provided an excellent view of their simple, entire-margined, and evergreen foliage.
To see the other photos and descriptions of this series, visit The Natural Bridge What Ain't album.