Drooping Leucothoe
Leucothoe fontanesiana
Ericaceae
Growth habit
Shrub
Perennation
Long-lived polycarpic perennial
Native distribution
VA to GA & TN in the Mountains
Location
Comstock Knoll and Rhododendron Collection
Source of plant
Princeton Nurseries, Weston Nurseries, Cornell Botanic Gardens
Description
Graceful evergreen shrub with long, spreading, arching branches clothed with long, pointed leaves and weighed down by flowers; almost fountain-like in habit. Flowers perfect, white, fragrant, slightlypitcher-shaped, 1/4" long, borne in May in 2" to 3" long axillary racemes from the leaf axils; racemes hangdown and are somewhat obscured by the foliage. Young foliage bright or bronzy green, eventually changing to lustrous dark green at maturity, developing a bronze to purplish coloration in winter.
USDA Hardiness Zone
4
Special characteristics
winter interest, growth habit