Mountain Fetterbush,
Pieris floribunda, and climbing fetterbush, P. phillyreifolia, are native
representatives of this genus and as is often the case plants found in
southeast North America have relatives in Southeast Asia,
which in this case the most well know is Japanese andromeda, P. japonica, which I have seen listed in
nurseries only as japonica.Besides the native species of Piersis, my choices
for evergreen shrubs with similar flowers include these related genera in the same family: Agarista, Belfaria, Leucothoe, and Zenobia, as well as titi, Cyrilla racemiflora, which is in a different family of the same
order. Note that those with racemes have the most similar inflorence structure.
