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= Pieris phillyreifolia = From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search For other uses of "Pieris", see Pieris (disambiguation).

Description
The Pieris phillyreifolia commonly referred to as the Climbing Fetterbush. There are seven known species of Pieris. The lesser-known P. phillyreifolia, is found only in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and coastal areas of Mississippi and Alabama. The white, bell-like flowers of Pieris phillyreifolia are borne in short, axillary racemes. It is often unique plant form and function that interest people the most, and what makes the story of this species so fascinating is not just where and how we found, but what it grew on, and the mechanics of that growth. The common name, climbing fetterbush, is apt as we found it climbing on Taxodium ascendens in a cypress swamp. The root system was nestled in the buttressing roots of the cypress, and the stem traveled up the host tree underneath the bark, emerging from vertical cracks every 1 to 2 meters (3.3 to 6.6 feet) as aerial shoots that extended outward up to half a meter (20 inches) from the tree. The plants we found were robust climbers reaching at least 6.1 meters (20 feet) up the Taxodium. On our trip last fall, we only observed this plant climbing T. ascendens, however it also grows on Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic white cedar), Cyrilla racemiflora (swamp cyrilla), Pinus elliottii (slash pine), and other downed trees and soil mounds, most likely to avoid standing water (Lemon and Voegeli 1962; Judd 1982). Pieris (/ˈpaɪ.ərɪs/ or /ˈpɪərɪs/[1])[2] is a genus of seven species of shrubs in the family Ericaceae, native to mountain regions of eastern and southern Asia, eastern North America and Cuba. Known commonly in North America as andromedas or fetterbushes, they are broad-leaved evergreen shrubs growing to 1–6 metres (3 ft 3 in–19 ft 8 in) tall and 3–10 ft (0.9–3.0 m) wide. The leaves are spirally arranged, often appearing to be in whorls at the end of each shoot with bare stretches of shoot below; they are lanceolate-ovate, 2–10 cm (0.8–3.9 in) long and 1.0–3.5 cm (0.4–1.4 in) broad, leathery textured, and with an entire or serrated margin. The young leaves in spring are typically brightly coloured. The flowers are bell-shaped, 5–15 mm (0.2–0.6 in) long, white or pink, and arranged in racemes 5–12 cm (2.0–4.7 in) long. The fruit is a woody capsule which splits into five sections to release the numerous small seeds.

Pieris species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the engrailed.

The genus name derives from Pieria, a place in Greece, according to Greek mythology the home of the Muses.[1]

Contents

 * 1Other Species
 * 2Cultivation
 * 3Cultivars
 * 4Toxicity
 * 5References
 * 6External links

Other Species[edit]

 * Pieris cubensis (Grisebach) Small. Western Cuba.
 * Pieris floribunda (Pursh ex Simms) Benth. & Hook. – mountain andromeda, mountain pieris, mountain fetterbush. Eastern United States.
 * Pieris formosa (Wallich) D.Don – Chinese pieris, Himalayan pieris. The Himalaya, southwestern China (Yunnan), northern Myanmar.
 * Pieris japonica (Thunb.) D.Don ex G.Don – Japanese andromeda. Eastern China, Japan, Taiwan.
 * Pieris nana (Maxim.) Makino (syn. Arcterica nana). Japan, eastern Siberia.
 * Pieris swinhoei Hemsley - southeastern China (Fujian, Guangdong).

Cultivation[edit]
They are commonly grown as ornamental plants, valued for year-round interest due to bright red new growth in early spring, chains of small, white flowers in mid-spring, and buds that remain on the plant through the winter. Numerous cultivars have been selected for different spring foliage colour. They grow best in a shady spot, sheltered from drying, winter winds. They prefer acid soil, and should be mulched once per year, using a two-inch covering of either peat or composted pine needles. The flowers give the plant one of its alternative names, 'Lily of the valley shrub' (though Pieris is not closely related to Convallaria).

Cultivars[edit]
The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-[3]


 * 'Blush'[4]
 * 'Cavatine'[5]
 * 'Debutante'[6]
 * 'Firecrest'[7]
 * 'Flaming silver'[8]
 * 'Forest flame'[9]
 * 'Mountain fire'[10]
 * 'Pink delight'[11]
 * 'Prelude'[12]
 * 'Purity'[13]
 * 'Sarabande'[14]
 * 'Valley Valentine'[15]
 * 'Wakehurst'[16]

Toxicity[edit]
Pieris floribunda (mountain fetterbush) has been noted as highly toxic.[17][18]

References[edit]
Hooker, W.J., and J.D. Hooker. 1872. Icones Plantarum, Or Figures, with Brief Descriptive Characters and Remarks, of New Or Rare Plants, Selected from the Author’s Herbarium (Vol. 12). London: Longman.

Judd, W.S. 1982. A taxonomic revision of Pieris (Ericaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 63:103–144.

Lemon, P.C., and J.M. Voegeli. 1962. Anatomy and ecology of Pieris phillyreifolia (Hook.) DC. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 89:303–311.

S. H. (2018, January/February). Pieris phillyreifolia: The Opportunistic Climbing ... Retrieved May, 2019, from http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/2018-75-3-pieris-phillyreifolia-the-opportunistic-climbing-fetterbush.pdf

Pieris (plant). (2019, February 05). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieris_(plant)