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Wild rhododendrons
> I recall being very impressed with the miles of wild pink
> rhododendrons in England -- which are reviled as noxious weeds I believe.
> To me, rhododendrons are plants of great beauty since they are so rare in
> San Diego.
Sadly they are indeed noxious weeds in the U.K., beautiful though they
are. They take over large areas of woodland where the soil is sandy and
acidic, and the dense, evergreen foliage cuts out light, out-competing
most other plants. This species, Rhododendron ponticum, with pink-purple
flowers, is actually native to SW Asia, with an outlying group of native
populations in S. Spain (and, I think, Portugal). In the latter region
they are thought to be a relic of the laurel-forest type of vegetation
that existed in the area now largely occupied by the Mediterranean basin
(this forest still survives on some Atlantic islands, e.g. Madeira).
Incidentally, a few of the East Aegean Islands have the deciduous
Rhododendron luteum, an 'azalea' with beautiful, intensely fragrant,
yellow flowers in spring. It grows well in Britain, and presumably it
likes permamently moist areas in the wild, even though it's in a
Mediterranean region. We have a very similar deciduous species here in
Missouri, R. roseum, which has pinky white flowers in May.
Nick.
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