N. ORD. ERICACE. 103 
| Tribe.—RHODOREA. 
GENUS.—K ALMIA,* LINN. 
SEX. SYST.—DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
KALMIA. 
MOUNTAIN LAUREL. ‘ 
oy 
SYN.—_KALMIA LATIFOLIA, LINN.; CISTUS CHAMAIRHODODENDROS, 
ETC., PLUK.; LEDUM FLORIBUS BULLATIS, ETC., TREW. 
COM. NAMES.—MOUNTAIN LAUREL, AMERICAN LAUREL, CALICO-BUSH, 
SPOONWOOD, BIG IVY, ROSE LAUREL, ROUND-LEAVED LAUREL, 
SHEEP-LAUREL,} LAMB-KILL,+ WICKE; (FR.) GRANDE KALMIE; 
(GER.) GROSS KALMIE. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH LEAVES OF KALMIA LATIFOLIA, LINN. 
Description.—This beautiful evergreen shrub attains a height of from 4 to 
10 or more feet. Stem smooth; dranches more or less terete, irregular, and tor- 
tuous. Leaves more or less scattered but tending to alternation, they are thick, 
coriaceous, glabrous, dark and shining green both sides; in form they are elliptical 
or ovate-lanceolate, acute at both ends and entire. /zflorescence simple or clus- 
tered, naked, umbel-like corymbs, terminal upon the branchlets: pedicels long, 
arising from leaf-like bracts; flowers clammy-pubescent. Calyx rotate, persistent, 
somewhat smaller than the fruit; md 5-parted; teeth deltoid. Corolla somewhat 
hypocrateriform, infundibular, or campanulate; furnished with 10 mamme, into 
the internal depressions of which the anthers are held until irritated; ‘ude short: 
limb 5-lobed; ¢odes semi-ovate, acute. Stamens 10; filaments smooth, filiform ; 
anthers 2-celled, each opening by a large apical pore or chink. Ovary globose ; 
style terminal, filiform; s#gma capitate. fruit a globose, 5-celled, pubescent, 
coriaceous capsule; seeds many, oblong; /es/a thin and somewhat loose. 
History and Habitat.—The laurel bush is indigenous to North America, grow- 
ing from Canada and Maine southward and westward to Ohio, and on the moun- 
tains as far as Florida. »Its large clusters of beautiful flowers, embosomed in the 
rich, dark green foliage so characteristic of the plant, is one of the most attractive 
points of beauty of our mountain woods in May and June. In southern Pennsyl- 
vania, on the Alleghanies, this shrub often attains the dimensions of a small tree, 
sometimes reaching as high as 30 feet. The wood when dry is hard and dense, 
somewhat like that of the box (Auxus), and is used for the manufacture of 
household implements, such as ladles, spoons, forks, etc.; for the handles of small 
tools, and for cog-wheels and the like. . , 
* Peter Kalm, a Swedish botanist and a pupil of Linnzus. + More properly names applied to ZX; angustifolia. : ae 
