2630

Shrub; Woody vine
Perennial

Native to South Carolina & Georgia

Documented growing wild in GA - SC

Rare in GA-SC

Look for it in swamp forests. This southeastern species has the remarkable habit of often growing as a creeping vine under the bark of Taxodium ascendens, the branches exserted thru the cypress bark, sometimes ascending into the upper canopy with the main stem never visible except at the very base of the tree; it also sometimes grows as a low shrub, per Weakley's Flora

To see a detailed map, click here

 

LEAVES:
Evergreen
Simple
Alternate

FLOWER:
Winter/Spring
White
Bisexual
Radially symmetrical
5-merous
5-lobed calyx
Weakly 5-ridged cylindric-urceolate corolla
10 included stamens
Superior ovary

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Capsule

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

• Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers p131
• Guide to the Wildflowers of SC p320
• Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast p110
• Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry p191
• Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide p236

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Ericales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Pieris phillyreifolia   FAMILY Ericaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Pieris phillyreifolia   FAMILY Ericaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
Ampelothamnus phillyreifolius