''Hydrangea cinerea'', the ashy hydrangea or gray hydrangea, is a small to medium sized, deciduous shrub up to 3 m tall; its natural range is interior regions of the southeastern United States.Lance, Ron. 2004 Woody Plants of the southeastern United States: A winter guide. The University of Georgia Press. 456 p. Its common names reflect the ashy or gray appearance of the undersides of its leaves, which results from a dense

pubescence Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's Human body, body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormone, hormonal signals from the Human brain, brain to the gonads: the ovary ...

Range and habitat

Ashy hydrangea occurs scattered in mostly upland sites and rocky outcrops in the interior regions of the southeastern United States in the southern sections of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the United States, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern ...

from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, west to

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, south to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It is typically found in neutral, basic or calcareous soils.

Taxonomy

Ashy hydrangea is similar to the more widespread smooth hydrangea ('' Hydrangea arborescens'') and the restricted silverleaf hydrangea ('' Hydrangea radiata''). At one time both ashy hydrangea and silverleaf hydrangea were considered subspecies of smooth hydrangea.McClintock, E. 1957. A monograph of the genus ''Hydrangea''. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 29: 147–256. However, most taxonomist now consider them to be separate species, and that usage is adopted here.Pilatowski, Ronald E. A taxonomic study of the ''Hydrangea arborescens'' complex. Castanea 47: 84–98.

Description

The inflorescence of ashy hydrangea is a

corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial re ...

. The showy, sterile flowers (white to near white) are few (0–3 per flowerhead) and are borne around the periphery of the corymb; they are usually greater than 1 cm in diameter. Flowering occurs in late spring or early summer. The leaves of ashy hydrangea are large (8 to 15 cm long),

opposite In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''even'' entails that it is not ''odd''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members i ...

, serrated,

ovate Ovate may refer to: * Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe * Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd * Vates or ovate, a term for ancient Celtic bards ...

, and

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 Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

. Lower leaf surfaces are variously pubescent, appearing gray; the trichomes are usually not dense enough to entirely mask the green leaf surface; as seen under magnification, the trichomes have prominent tubercles (bumps).

Uses

This attractive native shrub is often cultivated for ornamental use.Dirr, Michael A. hydrangeas for American gardens. Timber Press. 240 p. Ashy hydrangea is more tolerant of heat and drought than silverleaf hydrangea. Several popular cultivars ('Frosty', 'Pink Pin Cushion', and 'Sterilis') are available that have a greater component of showy, sterile flowers. The plant is used medicinally by the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

. An

infusion Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time (a process often called steeping). An inf ...

of the bark scrapings is taken for vomiting bile, and an infusion of the roots is taken as a cathartic and emetic by women during menses. Ashy hydrangea was probably used medicinally in a similar manner as smooth hydrangea by the Cherokee Indians, and later, by early settlers for treatment of kidney and bladder stones.Plants for a Future: ''Hydrangea arborescens ''.
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References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5954234 cinerea Flora of the Southeastern United States Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Flora without expected TNC conservation status