Hydrangea quercifolia W. Bartram

Oak Leaf Hydrangea; Seven Bark Hydrangea

Shrub

Perennial

Vascular

Oak Leaf Hydrangea is a native deciduous shrub in the Hydrangea family (Hydrangeaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Oak Leaf Hydrangea occurs along rivers and streams, in ravines, on wooded slopes, and in rich woods. It is a deciduous woody shrub growing 3-7 feet in height. Young stems are pubescent with orangish-brown to whitish hairs. The bark on older stems is thin, gray to reddish brown in color, and peels in long strips. Leaves are opposite, petiolate, suborbicular to ovate in outline, with lobed and serrate margins. The lower surface is densely pubescent and grayish in color, the upper surface is glabrous or sparsely pubescent and green in color. The leaves turn shades of orange, red, yellow, and purple before falling in the autumn. Flowers are produced in terminal conical panicles of 500-1000 flowers. The marginal flowers are large, sterile, and with enlarged white, greenish white, pink, or reddish sepals. The smaller bisexual flowers are fertile and white in color. The fruit is a hemispheric capsule. Oak Leaf Hydrangea is a popular ornamental, and over 500 cultivars have been developed. It is frequently available from nurseries. It prefers a site with rich, moist, loamy soils in full sun to partial shade. Alabama designated the oak-leaf hydrangea as the official state wildflower in 1999.—A. Diamond

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Native

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