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Rhododendron eastmanii; photograph (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-05-17

Rhododendron eastmanii Kron & Creel

May white azalea; Santee azalea

Ericaceae · South Carolina · listed by its genus as a temperate garden plant

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Rhododendron eastmanii, photograph (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhododendron eastmanii, photograph (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhododendron eastmanii, photograph (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhododendron eastmanii, photograph (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhododendron eastmanii, photograph (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhododendron eastmanii, photograph (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY) 28 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-5.8°C
Record low -17.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,206mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Rhododendron

Rhododendron, from Ancient Greek ῥόδον (rhódon), meaning "rose", and δένδρον (déndron), meaning "tree", is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, but smaller numbers occur elsewhere in Asia, and in North America, Europe and Australia.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Rhododendron", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant, listed under the genus Rhododendron in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “shrub or tree”, “temperate”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (841 mm of 1,153 mm) takes 8 months, February to March, June to October and December. Mean temperature moves 19.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April, June and August to September.

Rain

1,153 mm in the median year at the habitat, 841 mm of it February to March, June to October and December. Wettest month August at 138 mm, driest month November at 68 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,099 mm to 1,243 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,206 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,153 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -5.8 °C, the absolute minimum -17.2 °C, 1,822 frost nights in 44 years, 41.4 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 2.2 °C to 4.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.2 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -5.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -36 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Rhododendron in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “shrub or tree”, “temperate”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Rhododendron eastmanii through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 3.6 °C; 1,153 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost38.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-17.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 16–40RH 54–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 5 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C13 / 11–1315 / 14–1620 / 18–2024 / 23–2428 / 27–2831 / 30–3132 / 32–3331 / 31–3128 / 28–2924 / 22–2419 / 17–1914 / 12–15
Night °C4 / 2–45 / 4–68 / 7–912 / 11–1317 / 16–1721 / 20–2223 / 22–2423 / 22–2320 / 18–2014 / 13–159 / 8–105 / 4–5
Rain mm81 / 70–11089 / 81–11396 / 87–12081 / 72–8382 / 80–85120 / 113–126128 / 107–135138 / 113–15193 / 89–10185 / 79–9768 / 64–9292 / 87–110
DLI17 / 17–1822 / 22–2229 / 29–3037 / 36–3740 / 39–4040 / 40–4039 / 39–3934 / 34–3430 / 30–3025 / 24–2519 / 18–1916 / 15–16
RH %57 / 56–5856 / 55–5755 / 55–5654 / 53–5556 / 55–5759 / 58–6060 / 59–6161 / 61–6260 / 59–6158 / 57–5857 / 56–5857 / 56–58
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 5 grid cells holding the 12 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1124:1986 (33.775, -80.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -17.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -5.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 5 distinct grid cells holding 12 of the 12 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1124:1986 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_-80.625, lapse-corrected -36 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 33 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeSouth Carolina · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker33.754, -80.7 · in the densest population, 18 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 18 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 12 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 5 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 9 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 6 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 18 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Rhododendron eastmanii, photograph 1did not loadRhododendron eastmanii, photograph 2did not loadRhododendron eastmanii, photograph 3did not loadRhododendron eastmanii, photograph 4did not loadRhododendron eastmanii, photograph 5did not loadRhododendron eastmanii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Raven Dandridge, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Macbridea caroliniana Macbridea caroliniana Carolina birds-in-a-nest Photo: CC BY, Alison NorthupZephyranthes atamasco Zephyranthes atamasco Atamasco lily Photo: CC BY-SA, Turner BrockmanPenstemon australis Penstemon australis Eustis Lake beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Raven DandridgeNolina georgiana Nolina georgiana Georgia bear-grass Photo: CC BY, Scott Allen DavisBaptisia alba Baptisia alba White wild indigo Photo: CC BY, David WilkinsRhexia mariana Rhexia mariana Maryland meadow-beauty Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Rhododendron 574 in the reference

Rhododendron aberconwayi Rhododendron aberconwayi Ericaceae Photo: Public domain, Daderot Rhododendron abietifolium Ericaceae Rhododendron acrophilum Ericaceae Rhododendron adamsii Rhododendron adamsii Sagan Dalya Photo: CC BY, Valentin KosterinRhododendron adenogynum Rhododendron adenogynum Ericaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt StüberRhododendron adenopodum Rhododendron adenopodum Ericaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ulf EliassonRhododendron adenosum Rhododendron adenosum Ericaceae Photo: CC0, DaderotRhododendron aeruginosum Rhododendron aeruginosum Ericaceae Photo: CC BY, Siddarth MachadoRhododendron aganniphum Rhododendron aganniphum Ericaceae Photo: CC0, Daderot Rhododendron agathodaemonis Ericaceae Rhododendron alabamense Rhododendron alabamense Alabama azalea Photo: CC BY, Rob JohnRhododendron albiflorum Rhododendron albiflorum White rhododendron Photo: CC0, author not stated all 575 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Ericaceae
Described by
Kron & Creel
Native to
South Carolina
Wild records
18 in range · 5 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_-80.625, lapse-corrected -36 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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