58 . THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



This is Kalmia latifolia. the "mountain laurel" or "American 

 laurel" which the prosaic New Englanders "damn with faint 

 praise" by calling "calico-bush." It is occasionally called 

 "small laurel" and "wood laurel" and in the southern part of 

 its range is known as "ivy," "big-leaved ivy," "ivy-bush" or 

 even "poison i\y." The name of "spoonwood" is said to have 

 been given this plant because the wood w-as once used in mak- 

 ing spoons, but it is doubtful if it w^as ever used in this way. 

 "Clamoun" is a name difiicult to understand. Perhaps it is 

 an attempt of the unlettered to pronounce Kalmia; if not, our 

 only recourse is to suggest that it is an Indian name ! 



Kalmia angnstifolia, second only to latifolia in beauty, is 

 disparaged by such names as "lambkill," "sheep poison," 

 "calf kill," "kill kid" and "sheep laurel." All these al- 

 lude to the poisonous foliage. "Dwarf laurel" refers to its 

 height and "spoonw^ood ivy" to the reputed use of the wood. 

 "Wicky" is probably an Indian name. Kalmia polifolia is 

 the "pale laurel," or "swamp laurel." both names descriptive 

 of the plant. 



The great laurel belongs to a genus allied to Kalmia and 

 is named Rhododcndr.om maximum. It is also known as 

 "big laurel," "big-leaf laurel," "deer-laurel" and "horse 

 laurel." "Horse laurel" refers to its size in comparison 

 with Kalmia but "deer laurel" appears to get its name from 

 the fact that it grows where deer are found. After laurel, 

 the name most commonly used for our plant is "rose bay," 

 though the real rose bay is the oleandej". Other names for 

 plant are "bee laurel," of no significance, "cow-plant," per- 

 haps akin to the term "sheep laurel" applied to Kalmia, 

 "mountain laurel" by general consent a misnomer, and "spoon 

 hutch" another allusion to the use of the wood in making 

 spoons. Since the stems of all the laurels are scarcely of a 

 diameter of a spo(jn it is a puzzle how any of them came to be 



