Ericaceae

Heathers, Bilberry, Rhododendron

From Streeter et al., (2016), 'Family key':

"Usually woody evergreen shrubs or dwarf shrubs; leaves simple often leathery or needle-like; flowers often urn- or bell-shaped; sepals and petals joined at base; sepals 4 or 5; stamens 8 or 10"

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 052

Date: 12 May 2024

Locality: Rushmere Country Park, near Leighton Buzzard

Location (Lat/Long): 51.948, -0.674

Landscape/habitat: To the side of a path set through the woodland at this busy country park. 

Identification notes: I was walking through this park with friends when we saw this quite tall bush, with lots of striking pink flowers. When my friends asked me what it was I wasn't sure! 

Without my fieldguide, I used Pl@ntNet (CIRAD et al., 2024) which indicated it was likely to be a Rhododendron Rhododendron ponticum (75% match) with just the photo shown. Later on I checked in Streeter et al. (2016, p. 212); some descriptive features along with my observations here:

• 'Evergreen glabrous shrub to 3m. Can form extensive thickets.' (This description seems to fit how the bush presented, forming a hedge alongside the path at 2.5m high I would estimate)

• Flowers 'Campanulate (bell- or funnel-shaped)' (the flowers are a fairly open funnel shape)

• Habitat of 'Woods', which is where this was found, on 'acid sandy' soils. Rushmere is part of the Greensand Ridge which has this type of soil (The Greensand Trust, 2017).

Name: Rhododendron, Rhododendron ponticum

References

CIRAD, INRAE, INRIA and IRD (2024) Pl@ntNet. Available at: https://plantnet.org/en/ (Accessed: 11 June 2024).

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.

The Greensand Trust (2017) About the Greensand Ridge. Available at: https://www.greensandtrust.org/about-the-greensand-ridge (Accessed: 13 June 2024).