XX. 10. THE AMERICAN LAUREL. 391 



ternate whorls, and evergreen, except in the species, K. cuneata, 

 in which they are deciduous ; the flowers in terminal clus- 

 ters or compound corymbs ; the buds are naked. The flow- 

 ers are rose-colored, purplish or white. The calyx is five- 

 parted ; corolla salver-shaped, with a five-lobed border with 

 ten horn-like projections on the lower surface, in the cavities of 

 which above, the anthers nestle. Stamens ten, with anthers 

 opening by oblique pores. Capsule five-celled, many-seeded, 

 the partitions formed by the borders of the valves. Five species 

 are known, two of them in Carolina and Florida, the other 

 three in New England. Most of the species are considered 

 poisonous ; one of them, the narrow-leaved, is known to be 

 fatal to lambs, and gets its common name thence. Mr. Nuttall 

 thinks it not improbable that the deleterious honey sometimes 

 complained of, may have received its injurious property from 

 the flowers of the Kalmia latifblia. Kalm, who paid much 

 attention to the genus, says that the leaves of this species are 

 found to be poisonous to calves and lambs, and deleterious to 

 cattle, sheep and horses ; while they are the food of stags when 

 the snow covers the ground and hides other provision from them. 

 The occasionally poisonous quality of the flesh of partridges 

 has been attributed to their feeding on the buds of Kalmia ; but 

 Wilson, the ornithologist, says he has eaten freely and without 

 ill consequences, upon the flesh of these birds, when their crops 

 had been found distended with Kalmia buds. Dr. Barton con- 

 siders the Kalmia deleterious to the human system, and says 

 that the Indians made use of a decoction of the leaves to destroy 

 themselves. Dr. Bigelow, who has collected the facts in relation 

 to this subject, and himself made experiments and chemical anal- 

 yses to ascertain the properties of Kalmia latifblia, is inclined 

 to think that "the noxious effect of the Kalmia upon young 

 grazing animals, may be in some measure attributed to its indi- 

 gestible quality, owing to the quantity of resin contained in the 

 leaves." 



