15. MENZIÈSIA, Smith.
Calyx very small and flattish, 4-toothed or 4-lobed. Corolla cylindraceous-urn-shaped and soon bell-shaped, obtusely 4-lobed. Stamens 8, included; anther-cells opening at the top by an oblique pore. Capsule ovoid, woody, 4-celled, 4-valved, many-seeded. Seeds narrow, with a loose coat.—A low shrub; the straggling branches and the alternate deciduous leaves usually hairy and ciliate with rusty rather chaff-like bristles. Flowers small, developed with the leaves, in terminal clusters from scaly buds, greenish-white and purplish, nodding. (Named for Archibald Menzies, who in Vancouver's voyage brought the original species from the Northwest Coast.)
1. M. glabélla, Gray. Strigose-chaffy scales mostly wanting; leaves obovate, barely mucronate-tipped, glabrous or nearly so (1–2´ long); filaments ciliate below; capsule glabrous or nearly so; seeds long-caudate at each end.—Minnesota Point, L. Superior, and northwestward.
2. M. globulàris, Salisb. More or less chaffy, 2–5° high; leaves obovate-oblong, prominently glandular-mucronate, strigose-hirsute especially above; filaments glabrous; capsule beset with short gland-tipped bristles; seeds merely apiculate. (M. ferruginea, var. globularis, of Manual.)—In the Alleghanies from Penn. to Ga.
16. RHODODÉNDRON, L. Rose Bay, Azalea, etc.
Flowers almost always 5-merous. Calyx mostly small or minute. Corolla various (but not contracted at the orifice), lobed or cleft, or even parted, often somewhat irregular. Stamens sometimes as few as the corolla-lobes, more commonly twice as many, usually declined; anther-cells opening by a round terminal pore. Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, many-seeded. Seeds scale-like.—Shrubs or small trees, of diverse habit and character, with chiefly alternate entire leaves, and large and showy flowers in umbelled clusters from large scaly-bracted terminal buds. (Ῥοδοδενδρον, rose-tree; the ancient name.)
§ 1. AZÀLEA. Leaves deciduous, glandular-mucronate; stamens (5 to 10) and style more or less exserted and declined.
[*] Flower-buds of numerous much imbricated scales; corolla with conspicuous funnel-form tube; stamens (chiefly 5) and style long-exserted; 3–10° high, with leaves obovate to oblong-oblanceolate.
[+] Flowers appearing after the leaves.
1. R. arboréscens, Torr. (Smooth Azalea.) Branchlets smooth; leaves obovate, obtuse, very smooth both sides, shining above, glaucous beneath, the margins bristly-ciliate; calyx-lobes long and conspicuous, corolla slightly clammy. (Azalea arborescens, Pursh.)—Mountains of Penn. to N. C. June. Rose-colored flowers very fragrant.