Staggerbush : Lyonia fruiticosa

Kingdom : Plant Phylum : Magnoliophyta Class : Magnoliopsida Order : Ericales Family : Ericaceae Genus : Lyonia Species : fruiticosa (Michx.) Torr. Common name: Staggerbush

Description:

Evergreen shrub, usually colonial, 1.5-2.5 m tall, young twigs with dense rust colored scales, becoming glabrous with age.

Immature leaves covered with rust colored peltate scales; upper surface of leaf becoming mostly smooth with maturity, scales remaining on lower leaf surface becoming gray or sloughing off. Leaf flat or edges slightly curved upward, margins rarely revolute, obovate to oblanceolate, oval or elliptic 0.5-5.5 cm long and 0.3-2.8 cm broad. Leaves may look moldy beneath, leaves near the tips of the stems much smaller than those lower on the stems. Flowers in axillary fascicles produced on new twigs. Each flower stalk subtended by a bract and with two bractlets near its base. Perianth 5-parted. Calyx united basally, 5-lobed, persistent, lobes triangular, 1-1.5 mm long, outer surface scaly-pubescent, inner surface sparsely to moderately non-glandular pubescent. Corolla ovoid to urceolate, 2.5-5 mm long, about as broad at the base as long, outside scaly, lobes very short, white. Stamens 10, anthers opening by terminal pores. Ovary superior, 5-locular. Capsule ovoid, 5-angled, 3-5mm long with thickened sutures.

Habitat: Poorly drained pine flatwoods Notes: The common name "staggerbush" refers to the stems, which do not grow straight, but have abrupt turns in them, so that the plant appears to stagger towards the light.

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