Rhododendron cumberlandense (synonymous with R. bakeri ) is commonly known as the Cumberland Azalea. It has a relatively isolated natural range on the Cumberland Plateau in Kentucky south to Tennessee and the mountains of Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina. The flowers are not large, about 1.5 to 1.75 inches across, and typically range from yellowish-orange to deep red. This species is sometimes difficult to distinguish from the larger flowered R. calendulaceum, but the blossoms generally appear several weeks later after the leaves have fully expanded and the undersides of the leaves are usually waxy white or bluish in color.

The species distinction for R. cumberlandense was first described by Lemon and McKay in 1937. This native azalea makes an excellent landscape plant in its own right, but it also hybridizes easily with many of the other species, producing beautiful hybrids in a broad range of colors. Many of the brightly colored forms in the hybrid swarm of native azaleas on Gregory Bald probably contain R. cumberlandense genes.