Length of Flower: 1/2-inch tubular pink or white flowers with 5 petals.
Height of Plant: A prostrate shrub having leaves and stems covered with rust-colored hairs.
Lifespan: Perennial, with leathery oval evergreen leaves.
Range: Eastern North America from southern Canada, south to northern Florida where it is considered rare.
Habitat: Sandy or rocky woodland with dry acid soil. It can most often be found growing on slopes and near vertical edges of woodland roads where it will not be smothered by leaf litter.
Flowering Period: One of our earliest flowers, Trailing Arbutus is in bloom locally from late March through mid May. The sweet spicy-scented flowers are very fragrant and the most frequent pollinator in our area seems to be an early flying bee fly called the Greater Bee Fly (
Bombylius major).
Once a common plant, Trailing Arbutus is now considered uncommon to rare in many places across its broad range. At one time called Mayflower it was vigorously collected to make spring wreaths in celebration of what was thought to have been the first blooming flower encountered by the pilgrims. This practice along with disruption of the acidic xeric habitat in which it grows is probably what has made it scarce in places where it was formerly common. Fortunately it is still relatively common on the south fork of Long Island in stands of undisturbed forest where it is a true harbinger of spring.
Trailing Arbutus
