Index / Search / Rhododendron maximum
§1 Plant
Rhododendron maximum L.
vernacular great laurel — species · Ericaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Ericaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Rhododendron
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 2 counties across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- None
- Hedging
- Medium
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -13 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 150 min.
- Precipitation
- 36–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4–5.5
- Root depth
- 18 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 25 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 15 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Dark Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Dense
- Flower colour
- Red
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- Yes
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- Moderate
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 5,000,000
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.
Rhode Island view state ↗ 2 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/RHMA4 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2883094 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z