Flora of the Southeastern United States

Lyonia mariana (Linnaeus) D. Don. Common name: Staggerbush, Large-flowered Fetterbush. Phenology: Apr-May; Sep-Oct. Habitat: Pine flatwoods, savannas, pocosin-sandhill ecotones, less commonly in dry rocky woodlands in the lower Piedmont (especially with chestnut oak). Distribution: Rhode Island (formerly) and New York (Long Island) south to c. peninsular and e. Panhandle Florida; disjunct west of the Mississippi River in sc. Missouri, c. and s. Arkansas, nw. Louisiana, se. Oklahoma, and e. Texas.

ID notes: Readily distinguished vegetatively by the broadly elliptic leaves borne at an ascending 45 degree angle, with bright pink axillary buds.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: The peculiar, disjunct distribution is notable. "The western populations … tend to be much more pubescent than those of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and the most densely pubescent plants of the western region have been described as Lyonia mariana f. vestita (Rehder, 1924). The branchlets, calyx, and leaves of this form have a moderate to dense covering of long, soft, unicellular hairs; however, there are western plants that are only sparsely pubescent, and some eastern plants that are densely covered with unicellular hairs on the major veins of the leaves. IN all other characters the plants of these two regions are identical." (Judd 1981).

Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, C, F, Fl5, FNA8, G, GW2, K1, K4, NcTx, NE, NS, NY, Pa, POWO, RAB, Tat, Tx, Va, WH3, Judd (1981), Luteyn et al (1996); = Andromeda mariana L.; = Neopieris mariana (L.) Britton — S; = Pieris mariana (L.) Benth. & Hook.f. — S13; > Lyonia mariana (L.) D.Don. Basionym: Andromeda mariana L. 1753

Links to other floras: = Lyonia mariana - FNA8

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FAC
• Great Plains: FAC
• Northcentral & Northeast: FAC

Heliophily ⓘ: 8