Plant is an upright shrub, 8-10 feet tall with a trunk diameter of two to four inches. Preferred habitat is stream banks, flood plains, thickets and rich woods. Distribution is throughout the Escambia region..

Leaves are alternate; one part; short stalk; lance-like; no teeth and no lobes; with base forming an angle to the left; tapering and pinched.

Flowers are in a cluster at the end of a branch; odorless, about one inch across and usually appear on the shrub before the leaf; bisexual; divided into two parts. Calyx is five lobed, corolla is five parts; nearly funne- shaped; pink or white (white flowered often having a yellow spot in the throat). Five to ten stamens that extend well beyond the corolla. Flowers occur in the spring.

Fruit is a capsule.

The Latin, nudiflorum, is sometimes applied to this shrub. It’s a mixed bag as it describes any wild azalea whose flower appears before the leaf emerges; which this certainly does. However, the adjective “canescens” is best suited because it implies a southern habitat. Nudiflorum is usually reserved for those azaleas that reside at or beyond the Piedmont.