Native and naturalized plants
Native and naturalized plants of the Carolinas and Georgia, eastern Tennessee and northern Florida

513
Weakley's Flora ( 4/7/08 ): Ericaceae
Epigaea repens

SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS National Database: Ericaceae
Epigaea repens

SYNONYMOUS WITH
Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (1968): Ericaceae
145-15-001
Epigaea repens

Common Name:
Trailing Arbutus, Mayflower

Shrub Subshrub
Perennial
Evergreen

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Look for it in a wide variety of acidic forests, xeric to mesic, sandy, rocky, & loamy, per Weakley's Flora



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...Moist ...Dry

Leaves:
Simple
Alternate

Flower:
Spring
Pink/White
Bisexual
5-lobed calyx
salverform corolla
Superior ovary

Fruit:
Spring/Summer
Berry

To learn more about this plant, look it up in a good book!
A Guide to the Wildflowers of SC p162
Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers p012
Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast p113
Newcomb's Wildflower Guide p198
Southern Appalachian Wildflowers p035
Wild Flowers of NC, 1st edition p139
Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition p184
Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains p119
Wildflowers of Tennessee p097




Click picture for larger image.

image of Epigaea repens, image of Epigaea repens
JK Marlow      jkm0303n_07


March
Pickens County SC
SC Botanical Garden

 

image of Epigaea repens, image of Epigaea repens
JK Marlow      jkm0403k_14


March
Oconee County SC
Oconee State Park

 

image of Epigaea repens, image of Epigaea repens
JK Marlow      jkm0503a_11


March
Greenville County SC
Paris Mountain State Park

 

image of Epigaea repens, image of Epigaea repens
JK Marlow      jkm0404g_25


April
Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden

Leaves leathery, per A Guide to the Wildflowers of SC.

 

image of Epigaea repens, image of Epigaea repens
Patrick D. McMillan      pdmerepens_hhi1


April

Acknowledgments to Patrick McMillan, Clemson University's Herbarium director, for taxonomic review

 

"Humans seldom value what they cannot name." — Elaine Brooks, biologist