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NC Native Plant Society:
Plant Details

Oxydendrum arboreum

Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Scientific Name:

Oxydendrum arboreum

Genus:

Oxydendrum

Species Epithet:

arboreum

Common Name:

Sourwood, Sorrel-tree

Plant Type

Tree

Life Cycle

Perennial

Plant Family

Ericaceae (Heath Family)

Native/Alien:

NC Native

Size:

36-72 ft.

Bloom Color(s):

White

Light:

Sun - 6 or more hours of sun per day, Part Shade - 2 to 6 hours of sun per day

Soil Moisture:

Dry, Moist

Bloom Time:

July

Growing Area:

Mountains, Piedmont, Sandhills, Coastal Plain

Leaf Retention:

Nothing Specified

Leaf Type:

Leaves veined, not needle-like or scale-like

Leaf Form:

Simple

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Wildlife Value:

Important for Wildlife

Landscape Value:

Highly Recommended and Available

State Rank:

S5: Secure (*Key)

Global Rank:

G5 - Secure (*Key)

Notes:

"This is an all-season ornamental with few disease or insect problems. Flowering and fall color are maximized in the sun. Sensitive to pollution, soil compaction, and root disturbance, sourwood is not for urban areas." Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. "The bark is dark grayish-brown and fairly deeply furrowed; the tree nearly always has a characteristic lean (toward a former canopy light-gap). The finely serrate, elliptic leaves are distinctive, with the sour taste of garden sorrel..." Weakley 2015

Large Blooming Tree

image

Young Blooming Tree

image

Black Mountain
© MB Baumeister

Blooming Branches

image

Black Mountain
© MB Baumeister

Closeup of Blooms

image

Black Mountain
© MB Baumeister

Emerging inflorescence in early May

Orange County, NC

The Scientific Name is Oxydendrum arboreum. You will likely hear them called Sourwood, Sorrel-tree. This picture shows the Emerging inflorescence in early May of Oxydendrum arboreum

Bettina Darveaux

Close-up of flowers

Iredell County, NC

The Scientific Name is Oxydendrum arboreum. You will likely hear them called Sourwood, Sorrel-tree. This picture shows the Close-up of flowers of Oxydendrum arboreum

Bettina Darveaux

Maturing fruit (capsules) in August

Orange County, NC

The Scientific Name is Oxydendrum arboreum. You will likely hear them called Sourwood, Sorrel-tree. This picture shows the Maturing fruit (capsules) in August of Oxydendrum arboreum

Bettina Darveaux

Spectacular Fall color

Buncombe County, NC

The Scientific Name is Oxydendrum arboreum. You will likely hear them called Sourwood, Sorrel-tree. This picture shows the Spectacular Fall color of Oxydendrum arboreum

Bettina Darveaux

Close-up of leaves in October

Buncombe County, NC

The Scientific Name is Oxydendrum arboreum. You will likely hear them called Sourwood, Sorrel-tree. This picture shows the Close-up of leaves in October of Oxydendrum arboreum

Bettina Darveaux

Links:

USDA PLANTS Database Record

"Mesic to xeric deciduous forests, especially dry-mesic to xeric oak-hickory and oak-pine forests, also in the fall line sandhills in sandhill/pocosin ecotones; common...It is an especially characteristic understory tree of upland forests of the Piedmont and lower Mountains." Weakley 2015. Common throughout NC.



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