390 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The Canada Rhodora. R. rhodbra. Don. Rhodbra Cana- 

 densis. L. 



An early flowering shrub, from one to three feet high, distin- 

 guished for its copper-colored stem and glaucous leaves, and 

 clusters of naked flowers coming out before the leaves appear. 

 The recent shoots are straight and erect, of a light brown, some- 

 times hairy, enlarging gradually to the extremity. The shoots 

 of the preceding year are covered with a porcelain-like cuticle, 

 which peels off, and leaves, on the older branches, and irregular, 

 crooked stems, a bright, copper-colored, smooth bark. The 

 leaves are borne on short footstalks, narrow, lance-shaped or 

 oval, acute at each extremity, revolute at the margin, pale green 

 or glaucous above, lighter and glaucous and downy beneath. 



The flowers are in little tufts at the end of the branches. 

 The stem is very short and somewhat hairy. The calyx is 

 very minute. The purple or rose-colored corolla is deeply cleft, 

 and seems to consist of two narrow petals, round at the end, 

 and one broader, ending in three lobes. The three are slightly 

 united at base. Stamens ten, as long as the corolla, with fila- 

 ments somewhat hairy below, sustaining short, roundish, purple 

 anthers, opening by two terminal pores. Ovary bristly. Style 

 purple, longer than the stamens, supporting a large stigma. 

 The capsules are half an inch long, divided into five cells by 

 valves which open inwards, the partitions being formed by the 

 margins of the valves turned inwards. At the time of flower- 

 ing, the leaves are just beginning to be visible, covered with 

 hairs, pushing from the very small, scaly leaf-buds. This 

 plant, which flowers in April or May, is found in the neighbor- 

 hood of Boston, and not unfrequently in wet land in other parts 

 of the State. It also occurs in Newfoundland, in Maine, and 

 in Connecticut. 



XX. 10. THE AMERICAN LAUREL. KA'LMIA. L. 



A small genus of beautiful, flowering, American plants, named 

 by Linnseus in honor of Peter Kalm, a favorite pupil, a travel- 

 ler and distinguished botanist. The leaves are alternate or in 



