Official West Virginia State Flower

Big Laurel

(Rhododendron Maximum)

Adopted on January 23, 1903.

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The Big Laurel, Rhododendron Maximum, is the state flower of West Virginia. It was selected on January 23, 1903, by the Legislature, 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.

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• Leaf: 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: Showy, large, pale pink or white with a corolla of five rounded petals. Flower stems sticky. June to July.
• Fruit: Many tiny seeds borne in a long stemmed, red-brown capsule (1/2 inch long), splitting along five lines when mature (October).
• Twig: Stout, whitish green in color, covered with reddish-brown hair. Vegetative buds are small, appearing enclosed in small leaves. Flower buds are egg-shaped, enclosed in rusty, pubescent scales.
• Bark: Thin, light brown and smooth when young. 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: Wet woods, swamps.
• Range: Eastern and midwestern United States, Native, but often cultivated.

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