| Wild Hydrangea is a medium-sized shrub with large, opposite, toothed, deciduous leaves and white flower clusters in late spring and summer. Quite common in the Mountains, is is uncommon to rare in the Piedmont, and rare in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. It is often associated with rock outcrops, such as here. Caswell Co., NC 5/30/10.
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| Durham Co., NC 6/21/2009.
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| Wild Hydrangea shrubs are covered with white flower clusters in early summer. Haywood Co., NC 6/13/2009.
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| The flower clusters usually consist only of small fertile flowers. Haywood Co., NC 6/13/2009.
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| Rarely (in the wild) the flower clusters may have only showy sterile flowers. Haywood Co., NC 6/13/2009.
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| Another flower cluster from the same shrub. This shrub, seen at left in the top photo, was in the wild, adjacent to a normal-flowered shrub. Haywood Co., NC 6/13/2009.
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| The leaves are more or less smooth and slightly paler beneath. Hydrangea arborescens is the most common Hydrangea in NC. The other two species in the state, Hydrangea cinerea (Ashy Hydrangea) and Hydrangea radiata (Silverleaf Hydrangea), are much less common. Ashy Hydrangea has densely gray-hairy lower leaf surfaces, while those of Silverleaf Hydrangea are bright white and densely covered with felt-like hairs. Haywood Co., NC 6/13/2009.
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| Haywood Co., NC 6/13/2009.
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| Flat-topped clusters of white flowers are produced in early summer. Despite the name arborescens, this shrub has no aspirations of being a tree — it's rarely taller than 5-6 feet. Carroll Co., VA 6/29/03.
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| Leaves are opposite, broadly ovate, acuminate, and sharply toothed. Carroll Co., VA 6/29/03.
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| Varying numbers of showy sterile flowers may be present on the edges of the inflorescence, which is arranged in a cyme. Cultivated forms may consist of nothing but the showy sterile flowers. Carroll Co., VA 7/14/07.
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| The sterile flowers stay attached after flowering has finished. Carroll Co., VA 7/14/07.
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| Developing fruits. The capsules, dry when mature, are poricidally dehiscent, spreading seeds from holes along the sides. Carroll Co., VA 7/14/07.
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