A true Azalea, Oconee

The Oconee Azalea is native to the Carolinas and Georgia, but grows well farther north thru USDA Zone 6. I bought one from Redbud Native Plant Nursery in Glen Mills, PA, about 8 years ago as a small container plant, now it is about 6 feet high. I am very unhappy with botanists because they still have not properly divided up the huge genus of Rhododendron. Most of them are "splitters" designating more species than I would, while I am a "lumper" who sees very similar plants as being the same species, so less species. However, they should spIit up into three different genera: true rhododendrons, true azaleas, and evergreen azaleas. I would have the scientific name of the Oconee as Azalea flammea instead of Rhododendron flammeum. Oconee is a true azalea because it has stout stems, upright habit, and deciduous leaves. The evergreen azaleas are only from east Asia and have slender, very stiff stems and twigs and tiny evergreen leaves. I love evergreen azaleas as florist plants, but not as landscape plants because I don't like their stiff, bushy habit that in time gets messy and often has azaleas lacebugs. The true azaleas are higher quality plants with cleaner habits. Two photos of my specimen blooming still this May 2014. Also in May one of my customers has a white blooming Pinxterbloom Azalea, Azalea periclymenoides or A. nudiflora in the last two photos.

Rick, I'm not a splitter or a lumper but I do get your point...like with like! This is my first year with my own deciduous azaleas. Three of them are 'hybrids' in the Northern Lights series. Are they true azaleas in your scheme of things?

Also, never had deer bother any of my evergreen aza;eas but in the last three days the deer have nipped off the new branches around each finished bloom! Will I have flowers next year?

The Northern Light hybrids are true azaleas, coming from a cross between the native Roseshell Azalea (Rhododendron prinophyllum) of the eastern US x the Mollis Hybrid Azalea (Rhododendron x kosterianum) that is a hybrid of the Chinese and Japanese Azaleas. It seems that true Deciduous Azaleas hybridize easily with each other. Hard for them to ever hybridize with the Evergreen Azaleas with the tiny evergreen leaves. You should have flowers next year because one can prune these plants right after blooming. If the deer eat them again later, then not. They probably won't. They do really like to nip at the Evergreen Azaleas here in se PA.

Very pretty Rick , and thanks for the explanation too.

Since the science of taxonomy currently groups plants based on similarity of reproductive structures (along with DNA proof), in order to create entirely new genera you'll have to build more argument than personal pique and gardening/landscape habits.

Otherwise, you might also have to separate such compatriots as Quercus macrocarpa and Quercus virginiana...

It would be nice to have a way in the generic names of oaks to separate the White Oak subgroup from the Black Oak subgroup, that might not quite be making them to different genera. There is some significant difference.

Can you cross Rhododendrons x Azaleas x Evergreen Azaleas and do they also produce fertile offspring? It is easy to cross breed each of the three types with their own type; I don't think it is easy otherwise.

Every time I complain at botanists that they are too compulsive over little details and they usually over-split and designate too many species, (a species should be distinct) they get emotional and defend the status quo. I am surprised that they did not split the genus of Rhododendron themselves already, as they tend to be splitters. I am surprised at myself that I would want to split anything, but this is an exception. It would be a lot easier to look in Dr. Michael Dirr's landscape plant manual to find one of these ericaceous plants if there was a three way division, rather all rhododendron.

Since many of the species you mention evolved in different parts of the world, it shouldn't be surprising that they are difficult to cross breed. That is often due to the numbers of chromosomes; sometimes with their respective blooming times; and nothing to do with what they look like (evergreen, deciduous) or what someone named them (Azalea, Rhododendron).

There are very common native Viburnums that will not cross-breed, simply because they have incompatible numbers of chromosomes. I accept that is the way life is, whether we like it or not.

Taxonomists really have nothing to do with it - it's just their job to give you the bad news.

Today, I had a small experience with customers at a nursery and scientific names just aren't used. They are not important to most people and most people only know about 20 species of plants. Most people just know "the Azalea, the Hydrangea, the Iris or the Peony." One man on a website stated that to him "an azalea is an azalea, period. " He does not think of them as being part of rhododendrons.

I did run across on the web that botanists have come up with 8 subgenera of Rhododendron of which Pentanthera is the Deciduous Azaleas and Tsutsus is the Evergreen Azaleas.
Arthur T Viertel made a nice, easy pictorial guide to Trees, Shrubs, and Vines in 1970 that I once used in community college. He mentions that the real scientific name of azaleas is rhododendron from the current botanical guides he used, but he went ahead and designated them as "Azalea something or other" in his easy, short plant descriptions to make it easy for the reader.

I think now that I really don't care. I'm not going to be dealing with scientific names much.

My big book says that there are more than 900 species listed of the genus Rhododendron. If I went out and looked at all 900 I probably would like about 90 being species, but all 900 being a variety.

You are spot on with the position that many/most people don't use scientific names. Whether that's good, bad, or indifferent is for others to decide - but those names are how one can relate what plant is being spoken of around the world, common names be cussed.

I am proud to have Mr. Viertel's text on my shelf. It was one of my earliest acquisitions, and I moved onward and upward with a thirst for more.

Knowing names really only matters if you want to converse with others of like mind, and are interested in knowing if you are talking about the same thing.

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