Originally place in a genus of their own , azalea are now considered to be a form of rhododendron . azalea can be divided into deciduous and evergreen type , and are mostly native to mountainous areas with damp acidulent soil . Their superb flower colors have made them a sought - after shrub for centuries .

Origins

Azaleas are member of the heath ( Ericaceae ) crime syndicate , an ancient mathematical group of plants dating to 70 million old age ago . They are refer to rhododendrons , blueberries and pieris . Most azaleas we are conversant with today are come down from Asian shrubs , and were originally cultivated by monks of the Buddhistic monasteries . When seeds of the Rhododendron luteum were sent to England from the shoring of the Black Sea , it became parent to many azalea hybrids .

Azaleas in Asia

The azalea is the national flower of Nepal and is mentioned in ancient Chinese aesculapian texts . Bai Juyi , a Tang Dynasty poet born in 772 A.D. , have intercourse azalea and planted them in his yard . One of his poems pertain to the industrial plant as " a looker amidst all flowers . "

The Japanese traditionally carve up the azalea into two classes : Tsutsuji include all those that bloom 30 days after the spring equinox ; Satsuki admit those that flower about 30 days after the Tsutsuji types . Japanese azalea made their first appearing in Holland in 1680 . Known as Amerindic azaleas , they became popular glasshouse plant in Germany , Belgium , England and France .

Azaleas in America

There are at least 26 species of azaleas native to North America , including the fire azalea ( R. calendulaceum ) and fragrant whitened azalea ( R. viscosum ) , also called the swampland Banksia integrifolia . In the 1990s , two deciduous azalea species were discovered in Alabama .

Asian azalea came to the United States via England . The first hybrids were institute in Charleston , South Carolina in 1848 .

Callaway Gardens

Callaway Gardens , a hangout in Pine Mountain , Georgia , is the situation of the world ’s largest azalea garden . It was make to protect and preserve aboriginal azaleas . Founders Cason and Virginia Callaway discovered a undimmed orange - red azalea when picnic near their house in 1930 . Their appreciation of its smasher conduce to the organisation of what would eventually become a 13,000 - Akko tourer center and garden sport an " Azalea Bowl " with more than 3,400 hybrid azalea .

Classification

In localise azaleas in his plant life classification system , Carolus Linnaeus used the bit of flower stamens to distinguish between azalea and rhododendrons . Most azalea flowers have five stamen , while rhododendrons have 10 .

The classification of azalea has change somewhat since the meter of Linnaeus . Recently , the term rhododendron has been used to think of flora with large evergreen leaves , and azalea to refer to plant with smaller and thinner leaves . Usually azaleas have more flowers but less impressive leafage than rhododendron .

Legend of the Azalea

A Formosan folk tale say that a long - agone king was assassinate and turn into a cuckoo . Because of the king ’s violent death , the cuckoo sang so bitter that blood came from his greenback . April is the time of the goof ’s cries and brilliant red azalea blooms , thus the legend say the cuckoo dyed the flowers red .

References

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