Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Ericales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Kalmia buxifolia
FAMILY
Ericaceae
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read about Leiophyllum, Loiseleuria, and Kalmia from Alan Weakley and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Read more about Sand-myrtle at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Leiophyllum buxifolium
FAMILY
Ericaceae
INCLUDING
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 145-07-001:
Leiophyllum buxifolium var. buxifolium
FAMILY
Ericaceae
INCLUDING
Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968)
Leiophyllum buxifolium var. prostratum
COMMON NAME:
Sand-myrtle, Mountain Myrtle
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_debu2_001_lvd
)
Keith Bradley kab_kalmia_buxifolia_0626
February Lexington County SC
Peachtree Rock Heritage Preserve
)
John B. Nelson jbn_441264980_7bee32c0b9
March
The 1/4" wide flowers have 5 spreading petals and 10 protruding stamens, per Newcomb's Wildflower Guide.
)
JK Marlow jkm060521_162
May Macon County NC
Highlands Biological Station
Leaves stipitate-glandular or glabrous, entire or with a few obscure teeth, per Weakley's Flora.
)
JK Marlow jkm070518_019
May Avery County NC
Grandfather Mountain
)
JK Marlow jkm070519_024
May Avery County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
Ron Lance rwl_lbuxifolium
May Avery County NC
Grandfather Mountain
)
JK Marlow jkm0407m_05
July Sevier County TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
)
JK Marlow jkm0407v_22
July Mitchell County NC
The Roan Highlands
Leiophyllum buxifolium var. prostratum?
)
Keith Bradley kab_kalmia_buxifolia_8400
November Lexington County SC
Peachtree Rock Heritage Preserve
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Kalmia buxifolia
FAMILY
Ericaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Leiophyllum buxifolium
FAMILY
Ericaceae
INCLUDING
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 145-07-001:
Leiophyllum buxifolium var. buxifolium
FAMILY
Ericaceae
INCLUDING
Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968)
Leiophyllum buxifolium var. prostratum
802
Shrub
Perennial
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC
Uncommon in NC Mountains, rare elsewhere
Look for it - locally abundant but very restricted in wet (spodosol) pinelands of outer Coastal Plain (in Brunswick & Carteret Counties, NC), locally common in relatively dry sandhills in a few locations in the Sandhills, disjunct in Piedmont on a few quartzite monadnocks, fairly common in the mountains on rock outcrops at high to moderate elevations (on a wide variety of rock types), per Weakley's Flora
Click here to see a more detailed map from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium,
or click here to see a map from SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
...Wet
...Variable
...Dry
LEAVES:
Evergreen
Simple
Alternate or opposite
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White
Bisexual
5 sepals
5 petals
10 stamens, about as long as the petals
Superior ovary
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers p092
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC p226
- Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast p109
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide p290
- Wild Flowers of NC, 1st edition p134
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition p179
- Wildflowers of Tennessee p099
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge p27
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont p290
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide p188
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region p222