Words On Wellness: Rhododendrons
January is traditionally a month when we make plans and personal resolutions for the new year. Our culture may measure time via the Gregorian calendar but the rest of nature has a revolving spiral of continuous beginnings and endings, each season woven seamlessly into the next. Plants are true calendar keepers since they have to plan their futures based on the conditions they experience today. Rhododendron macrophyllum is a coastal shrub whose name means ‘rose tree with big leaves’ and only lives from Northern California to Southern British Columbia. This beautiful native dwells in mixed conifer forests, lacing its elegant form through columns of light wherever it can. They grow very slowly and can live hundreds of years. Most of the time, their unassuming presence, blends into the surrounds, but starting in late January (they bloom earlier in low elevations), they begin to flourish with sweet-smelling rose-pink blossoms. Flowers were used by indigenous cultures as decoration, especially for dance wreaths. Each shrub flowers in its own time depending on light available and the festival of blooms lasts all the way through May - sometimes into June. Buds for the following year are set mid to late summer. The number of buds set depends on amount of spring rainfall and light conditions just experienced, plus other factors that we as humans have yet to discover in the realm of plant intelligence.
These native “rhodies” are toxic, to honey bees and humans but bumble bees love them and can be seen actively gathering both nectar and pollen. Deer and Mountain Beavers are among the few animals able browse on Pacific Rhododendron, who protect their leaves from cold weather by rolling the sides in. Not all species of rhododendron are toxic - the national flower of Nepal is rhododendron and there are many non-toxic species there. Their bark, leaves and flowers are used in traditional Tibetan medicine for inflammation, pain, headache, cough, diabetes and rheumatism. Leaves are also burned as incense. The rhododendron essential oil that you might find on the market is extracted from Nepal’s Rhododendron anthopogon and used for its grounding, calming and centering qualities. While our local species cannot be medicinal in these ways, they do offer us the spiritual and energetic quality of unconditional love and natural joy in the form of a flower remedy used for healing hearts and cultivating compassion.
