Menziesia ferruginea
Common name:
Rusty Menziesia
Fool's Huckleberry
False Azalea
Pronunciation:
men-zee-SHE-a fer-ru-GI-nea
Family:
Ericaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
Yes
- Deciduous shrub, to 12 ft (3.6 m) tall, erect, straggly, spreading. Branches often grouped and more or less appearing whorled, pubescent and glandular when young, when older have reddish, scaly-shredding bark. Leaves alternate, simple, oblong to elliptic, 1.5-6.5 cm long, thin, margins finely serrate, main vein protrudes at apex, dark to bluish green, sparsely pubescent above, pale and minutely pubescent below, skunky odor when crushed; short petiole. Both leaves and stems are sticky to the touch. Flowers small, pinkish-orange to yellowish-white, urn-shaped, 6-8 mm long, 2-8 in terminal clusters. Fruit a dry, ovoid capsule, 5-7 mm long.
- Part shade to shade. A shade-tolerant shrub, in its range it is found mainly on steep, northerly exposures with abundant moisture. It is also found in openings and on cut-over forest land, especially on well-drained slopes.
- Hardy to USDA Zone Native to from Alaska south to northern California, east to western Montana. Found in moist woods, well-drained soils in along the Pacific Coast and in the mountains.
- ferruginea: rust-colored, rusty.
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