American rosebay

A large evergreen shrub or small tree, usually up to about 3.5m high in cultivation, though can reach up to 10m in the wild. Leaves are elliptic, up to 20cm long, with fine rust-coloured felting on the undersides when young, and sparse hairs on the leaf stems. Late flowering, producing dense clusters of 14-25 small, bell-shaped flowers, in shades from white to lilac pink and with yellow-green speckles on the upper petals, in summer