''Halesia'' (''tetraptera'' var.) ''monticola'', the mountain silverbell, is a species of flowering plant in the small family Styracaceae. This large

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub was originally included in '' H. carolina'', but was identified first as a subspecies by Rehder in 1914, then as a species by Sargent in 1921. More recently, some authoritative sources regard it only as a subspecies or variety, while other authoritative sources regard it as a species, as it is treated here.

Description

''H. monticola'' is much larger than either the little silverbell or common silverbell (var. ''tetraptera''), and is the largest member of the genus. It is known to grow 34 meters tall in the

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...

. Another important difference is that ''monticola'' has significantly larger flowers than either ''H. carolina'' or ''H. tetraptera''.

Range

The silverbell tree grows mostly in the southern

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

and into southern

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, with small outlying populations up to and barely north of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, and along the

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

border. It is apparently absent from

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. In the cited reference, this species is referred to as ''Halesia carolina''.

Cultivation

The mountain silverbell is cultivated in many places around the world. Although it may be difficult to transplant, once established it is easy to grow. It blooms while still quite small, only about 4 meters tall.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5641509 monticola Trees of the Southeastern United States Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Natural history of the Great Smoky Mountains