Plants That Start with "R"

Fragrant sumac is a versatile deciduous shrub native across much of the eastern and central United States, where the plant threads scattered woodlands, rocky slopes, and open banks. The trifoliate leaves, often mistaken at a glance for poison oak, are entirely harmless, and a crushed leaf releases the clean, lemony-resinous scent that gives the plant every one of the common names, from fragrant sumac to skunkbush, depending on the nose. The genus name Rhus is the old Greek and Latin word for the sumacs, and the epithet aromatica names the scent directly.

Hardiness

Zones 3–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

4–6 ft.

Spread

4–6 ft.

Bloom

Yellow

Plant type

Shrub

Traditional use

digestive health, topical applications, general wellness

Ruellia caroliniensis, the Carolina wild petunia, is a modest, long-blooming native that carries far more ecological weight than the quiet flowers suggest. From early summer into fall, a steady succession of lavender to violet-purple trumpets, each an inch or two across and lasting only a single day, opens along upright stems a foot or two high, replaced faithfully the next morning so that the plant is seldom out of bloom for months on end.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

1–2 ft.

Spread

1–2 ft.

Bloom

Purple

Plant type

Perennial