West Virginia State Flower

Rhododendron (Big Laurel)

(Rhododendron Maximum)

Adopted on January 23, 1903.

The Rhododendron (Big Laurel), Rhododendron Maximum, is the state flower of West Virginia. With the recommendation of the Governor, the Legislature adopted House Joint Resolution 19 on January 29, 1903, following a vote by pupils of the public schools. It is a shrub of the heath family and may be recognized by its large dark evergreen leaves and delicate pale pink or white bloom, mottled with either red or yellow flecks.

Description of the Rhododendron (Big Laurel)

There many common names for this shrub include rosebay, rosebay rhododendron, big laurel, great laurel, great rhododendron and white rhododendron.

• Leaf: The Rhododendron leaf is an evergreen, alternate, simple, pinnately veined, 4 to 10 inches long, elliptical, with entire margins. Leaves are dark green and shiny above, whitish with rust colored hair, with rolled edges that curl in winter.
  
• Flower: The Rhododendron flower is showy, large, pale pink or white with a corolla of five rounded petals. Flower stems are sticky. Blooms from June to July.
  
• Fruit: Many tiny seeds borne in a long stemmed, red-brown capsule (1/2 inch long) of the Rhododendron split along five lines when mature in October.
  
• Twig: Stout, whitish green in color, covered with reddish-brown hair. Vegetative buds are small, appearing enclosed in small leaves. Flower buds of the Rhododendron are egg-shaped, enclosed in rusty, pubescent scales.
  
• Bark: The bark is thin, light brown and smooth when young, and will be broken into thin scales on older stems.
  
• Form: A large shrub or small tree with several twisted stems that may form an impassable thicket. Height: 5-40'.
  
• Habitat: The Rhododendron can be found in wet woods and swamps, and favor acidic soils..
  
• Range: Found in the Eastern and Midwestern United States, Native, but often cultivated.

The use of common names may leads to confusion with two other members of the heath family.

• Kalmia latifolia is a smaller shrub that has many common names but is often called mountain laurel or ivy. Kalmia latifolia has smaller leaves (3/4 to 1 inch across) than great laurel and small, candy-striped white or pinkish flowers. It blooms in rocky woods during May to July, and at 5 to 15 feet, is smaller in stature than the great laurel.
• Another relative that is also sometimes called mountain laurel is the Catawba rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense). Its darker pink or purple flowers are more common in southern WV. One thing that all three "mountain laurels" of the heath family have in common is their beautiful evergreen foliage and their toxicity to humans or livestock if eaten.
  

Rhododendron: State Flower of West Virginia

(H. J. R. No. 19)
JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8
[Adopted January 23, 1903.]

Relating to a State flower.

Whereas, Many of our sister states have adopted some floral emblem; and

Whereas, Our present chief executive, the governor of the State, and his immediate predecessor, have each recommended the big laurel, or rhododendron, and the pupils of the public schools of the State, under direction of the state superintendent, have voted for this flower; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That said rhododendron, or big laurel, be and it is hereby designated as the official State flower, to be used as such at all proper times and places.