Wikimedia Commons
Ericaceae
Hudson Bay Tea
Rhododendron tomentosum
Arctic resilience and pioneer spirit.
- Family
- Ericaceae
- Genus
- Rhododendron
- Native to
- northern Europe, northern Asia, northern North America
- Bloom season
- Late Spring, Early Summer
- Type
- evergreen shrub
- Height
- 30–120 cm
- Sunlight
- full sun to part shade
- Soil
- acidic, boggy, peaty
- Water
- high; consistently moist
- Hardiness
- 2–6
- Lifespan
- perennial; long-lived shrub
Did you know
- Also called Labrador tea, it was brewed by Indigenous peoples and fur traders across subarctic Canada.
- The undersides of the leaves are covered in woolly, rust-colored hairs that reduce water loss in cold winds.
- The aromatic leaves contain ledol, a mildly toxic compound — excessive consumption can cause headaches.
- During the American Revolution, colonists used it as a tea substitute when boycotting British tea.
- It was reclassified from the genus Ledum to Rhododendron based on molecular DNA evidence.
Color meanings
White
northern purity and survival