About Pieris floribunda (Pursh) Benth. ex Hook.
Pieris floribunda is a bushy evergreen shrub that typically reaches 0.9 to 1.8 metres, or 3 to 6 feet, in height. Its leaves are oval, shiny, and leathery; while they are normally evergreen, the leaves may turn brown and shed after a harsh winter, remaining on the plant until spring. It produces white, urn-shaped flowers arranged in panicles that are either fully erect or only slightly nodding. These flower clusters develop during autumn as erect pink buds. The fruit is a brown, dry, slightly angled globular capsule that is about 10 millimetres, or 1/2 inch, long when it forms in autumn, and it persists on the plant until late April. When the shrub reaches maturity, its gray-brown bark is shaggy and peels. Pieris floribunda is native to the eastern United States, found mainly in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and West Virginia. Like other species in the Pieris genus, it grows best in well drained soils, and it thrives in areas disturbed by human activity.
