Kalmia lalifolia, 



THE BROAD-LEAVED KALMIA. 



Synonynies. 



' LiNNJEus, Species Plantarum. 



MicHAUx, North American Sylva. 



Bi&ELOw, Medical Botany. 

 I Don, Miller's Dictionary. 

 [ Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 



France. 



Germany. | 



Britain. 



Ivy, Calico ) Anglo- America. 



Kalmia latifolia. 



Kalmia a larges feuilles, 

 Breitblattrige Kalmia, 

 Broad-leaved Kalmia, 

 Laurel, Mountain Laurel, 

 Bush, Calico-tree, Calico Flower, 



Dtrivations. The specific name latifolia ia derived from the Latin lotus, broad, ax\A folium, a leaf, havin? reference to the 

 broad leaves of this species. The French and German names have the same signification as the botanic one. It is called Calico- 

 tree, Calico Flower, &c., on account of its beautiful spoiled flowers. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 63 ; Calesby, Natural History of Carolina, ii., pi. 98; Audubon, Birds of 

 America, i., Iv. ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 959; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves on long petioles, scattered, or 3 in a whorl, oval, coriaceous, smooth, and 

 green on both surfaces. Corymbs terminal, downy, and viscid. Don, Miller's Diet. 



Descrijition. 



P^t^HE Kalmia latifolia 

 ^ h H 1^ is a large evergreen 

 i}? LI ^ shrub or low tree, 



_^ feiSSS growing to a height 



of fifteen or twenty feet, in favourable situa- 

 tions, with a stem three or four inches in diam=- 

 eter; but ordinarily it does not attain more 

 than one half of these dimensions. Its leaves 

 are of a coriaceous texture, oval-acuminate, 

 entire, and about three inches long. The 

 flowers, which put forth from May to July, are 

 sometimes of a pure white, tinted with pale- 

 pink, delicately spotted; but, in general, they 

 are of a beautiful rose-colour, and are destitute 

 of odour. They are disposed in corymbs at the 

 extremity of the branches; and, as they are 

 always numerous, their brilliant effect is height- 

 ened by the richness of the surrounding foliage. 

 The seeds are very minute, and are contained 

 in small, globular capsules. 



Geography and History. The Kalmia latifolia is indigenous to North Amei- 

 ica, from Canada to Carolina. It rarely occurs, however, north of the forty-sec- 

 ond or forty-third degrees of north latitude, and is but sparingly produced in 

 Kentucky and western Tennessee, and disappears entirely in the southern states 

 wherever the rivers enter the low country, or where the pine-barrens begin. 

 Although it is comparatively abundant along the rivers of the middle and south- 

 ern states, it is nowhere seen more profusely multiph'^d, nor of a greater height, 



