Scientific name: Philadelphus floridus Beadle
Common name: Florida Mock Orange
Family: Hydrangeaceae; Hydrangea
Flowering period: May
Habitat: river banks and rocky limestone slopes

Type locality: Cliffs of Coosa River, Floyd County, Georgia
Herbarium specimens: New York, NY

Comments: In 1902 this species was collected by Biltmore Herbarium collectors in Floyd County and defined by Chauncey D. Beadle (1866-1950), a botanist from the Biltmore Herbarium in North Carolina.

Description: "A deciduous shrub 2-3 m tall with branching stems, the bark of the last season's shoots dark brown, exfoliating: Leaves oval or elliptic, the blades 4-10 cm long, 2-5 cm broad, acute at the apex, either rounded or narrowed at the base, the borders remotely toothed; they are glabrate above, sparsely pubescent on the lower surface, prominently 3-nerved, or occasionally 5-nerved, thin in texture, bright green above, pale beneath, falling in early autumn: petioles 3-7 mm long: flowers occasionally solitary but mostly 3-5, 3-4 mm wide, expanding early in May: pedicles and hypanthium appressed pubescent: sepals acuminate, the exterior surface appressed pubescent: stigmas not united." - Chauncey D. Beadle, 1902

Reference :
1. Beadle, Chauncey D. " Studies in Philadelphus." Biltmore Botanical Studies, A Journal of Botany, Embracing Papers by The Director and Associates of the Biltmore Herbarium 1. (1902b.) :160
2.USDA, NRCS. 2007. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 11 November 2007). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Last updated on November 13, 2007.

Botanical exploration in Floyd County, Georgia