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The following notes are set down as an abbreviated record of a rather extensive collecting trip in search of native azaleas. Besides telling something of the journey and the plants encountered the following pages will also include information concerning the plant specimens collected on this trip so that a record will be available to others who may chance to study these specimens at a later date or who may wonder in what woods, on what mountaintop or along what stream a special azalea grows. But first an explanation.
Our native azaleas or ”Bush Honeysuckles“ were a source of admiration, frequently recorded, to the first European travellers on this continent. Several species found their way to Europe at an early date, were known to Linnaeus and were used in hybridization with the European Pontic Azalea[*] (Rhododendron flavum) and Oriental Rhododendron molle to produce the many-colored and very hardy Ghent hybrids which have graced our gardens for many years. But while a few species such as the Pinxterbloom (R. nudiflorum), Flame Azalea (R. calendulaceum) and Sweet Azalea (R. arborescens) have been cultivated to some extent in this country it seems strange indeed that until very recently no real attempts have been made either to select the better wildlings for garden cultivation or to use them as parental breeding stocks for the production of finer hybrids than the old Ghents. There are excellent potentials for a new race which might well offer strong competition to the “Japanese” azaleas with which our gardens are now filled. These native azaleas have a color range from white to pink, red and yellow, they may be dwarf or very tall, single stemmed or more stoloniferous than a raspberry bush— and certain of them root readily from cuttings. What other characters could be desired? Perhaps evergreen leaves, but this is not impossible to the breeder.
It was a realization of these facts, plus an awareness of the marked limitations of our present knowledge of the botany, genetics or even geographic distribution of the native species which led to the planning of a research project at the Morris Arboretum calculated to provide more accurate information about our native azaleas, their natures, their natural occurrences and their behaviour. A project with these objectives called for a study of the literature on azaleas, a detailed examination of herbarium materials assembled at various institutions and extensive study and collection in the field to determine more accurately the nature and distribution of the individuals comprising the taxonomic units as we now know them. The collection of many specimens at the same location provides data on variability which the single existing herbarium specimen cannot give, and this kind of information was essential for constructing a picture which may still require many years of examination and analysis to develop in its full clarity.
The project was initiated in 1950 in cooperation with the Department of Botany of the University of Pennsylvania and the Academy of Natural Sciences and was greatly advanced by a grant from the American Philosophical Society which made possible the field collecting trip of present concern and as undertaken by the writer during a leave of absence from regular duties at the Morris Arboretum. While this writer is indebted to many persons for assistance at all stages of this native azalea project, he is especially appreciative of the continuous guiding interest of Dr. W. H. Camp who was so largely responsible for the initiation of this venture, and to Dr. J. R. Schramm who, as Director of the Morris Arboretum, so effectively smoothed the way to make it possible.
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