OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

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

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Oxydendrum arboreum   FAMILY Ericaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Oxydendrum arboreum   FAMILY Ericaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America

Oxydendrum arboreum

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 145-13-001:

Oxydendrum arboreum   FAMILY Ericaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Oxydendrum arboreum

 

COMMON NAME:
Sourwood, Sorrel-tree


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm191222_2370_o_arboreum

    Clay County    AL

Cheaha State Park

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905)    mtna_i_829

        

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_oxar_001_lvd

        

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm090125_012b

January    Greenville County    SC

Paris Mountain State Park

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm140417_033

April    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Bark lustrous gray to brown, deeply furrowed, often with a tinge of red, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm200505_4664

May    Spartanburg County    SC

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    s040514_a

May    Polk County    NC

Roadside

The finely serrate, elliptic leaves are distinctive, with a sour taste, per Weakley's Flora (2022).

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm0406k_24

June    Pickens County    SC

Roadside

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm0406l_04

June    Greenville County    SC

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Ron Lance    rwl_oxy_arboreum

June    Jackson County    NC

Big Ridge Preserve

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmoarboreum_brp2

June-July?        NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

Prized Sourwood honey is derived from these small urn-shaped flowers, per Wild Flowers of NC, 1st edition.

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm0407b_25

July    Rutherford County    NC

Chimney Rock Park

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm0407za_09

July    Pickens County    SC

Roadside

Narrowly ovoid fruits stand erect on curved pedicels, per Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988).

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm210710_2067

July    Transylvania County    NC

DuPont State Forest

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Stephanie C. Brundage    scb_070222Hayesville24ed

July    Clay County    NC

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm0408a_29

August    Greenville County    SC

Jones Gap State Park

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm180812_3720

August    Greenville County    SC

Young twigs eventually with relatively conspicuous, vertically lenticular lenticels, per Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Northern Florida and Adjacent Georgia and Alabama (Godfrey, 1988).

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm180824_4120

August    Greenville County    SC

Margins entire or finely and irregularly doubly serrate, per Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Northern Florida and Adjacent Georgia and Alabama (Godfrey, 1988).

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_oxydendrum_arboreum_2

August        

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm200926_7412

September    Transylvania County    NC

DuPont State Forest

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_oxydendrum_arboreum_4

September        

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm061021_016

October    Greenville County    SC

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm221004_0217

October    Greenville County    SC

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm0311e_16

November    Greenville County    SC

Roadside

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    jkm231122_6928

November    Greenville County    SC

image of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

JK Marlow    s021110_c

November    Greenville County    SC

The elliptic, finely serrate leaves often start to turn red in late August, per Fall Color & Woodland Harvests (Bell & Lindsey, 1990).

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Oxydendrum arboreum   FAMILY Ericaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Oxydendrum arboreum   FAMILY Ericaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Oxydendrum arboreum

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 145-13-001:
Oxydendrum arboreum   FAMILY Ericaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Oxydendrum arboreum

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

1008

Tree
Perennial

Habitat: Mesic to xeric deciduous forests, especially dry-mesic to xeric oak-hickory and oak-pine forests, and also often in sandhill/pocosin ecotones, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate

FLOWER:
Summer
White
5-lobed calyx
5-lobed urceolate corolla
Superior ovary
Bisexual

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Capsule

 

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



 


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