Azaleas in a black vase once served as a death threat
Behind the springtime show, azaleas are poisonous down to their nectar. Their reputation was grim enough that a bouquet delivered in a black vase was understood as a threat to kill. In parts of Turkey, bees are deliberately fed on the blossoms to make a mind-altering, occasionally lethal honey.
Azaleas are shrubs within the genus Rhododendron, drawn mainly from two former subgenera, one evergreen and one deciduous, in the heath family Ericaceae. They bloom in April and May in the temperate north and in October and November south of the equator, with flowers lasting weeks. Native to Asia, Europe and North America, they like shade under trees, acidic soil with a pH of 4.5 to 6.0, and little fertiliser. Centuries of breeding have produced thousands of cultivars, mostly propagated from cuttings.
The toxins, called andromedotoxins, sit in both leaves and nectar, and they pass into honey. For pets the danger is serious: eating the plant can depress the central nervous system and lead to organ failure. Gardeners face their own foes, including leafy gall, root rot in hot damp conditions, and the azalea lace bug, which a 2000 study found could be deterred by planting taller cover overhead.
Culture has embraced the plant despite its dark side. In China it is called the thinking of home bush and appears in the poetry of Du Fu. It is an emblem of São Paulo in Brazil. Japan holds Tsutsuji festivals, including one at Nezu Shrine in Tokyo from early April to early May. Korea's Sobaeksan celebrates the royal azalea each May, and Hong Kong's Ma On Shan, home to six native species, has held a festival since 2004.
In the American South, azaleas became a regional signature. According to the historian Fred Galle, Southern indica azaleas first went into an outdoor landscape in the 1830s at Magnolia-on-the-Ashley, a rice plantation near Charleston, whose owner brought them from greenhouses in Philadelphia. The garden opened to the public in 1871. Mobile, Alabama now has an Azalea Trail through private gardens and an annual Azalea Trail Run in late March.
Source: Azalea
