ERICACEAE 



RosEBAY Rhododendron. Great Rhododendron 

 Rhododendron maximum L. 



HABIT. A beautiful shrub or small tree rarely 35 feet high 

 and 1 foot in diameter; short, crooked trunk; bushy, rounded 

 crown; an important ornamental. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; persistent 2-3 years; 4—12 

 inches long and IVi-'^Vi inches wide; oblong; leathery; revo- 

 lute, entire margins; dark green and lustrous above, paler 

 beneath. 



FLOWERS. Regular; perfect; showy; in 16-24 terminal 

 flowered clusters; white, pink, or purple; campanulate; 1 inch 

 across; appearing after the leaves. 



FRUIT. A woody, oblong-ovoid, red-brown, sticky, glandu- 

 lar-hispid, 5-celled capsule Yz inch long. Seed: small, many. 



TWIGS. Stout; glabrous; dark green to red-brown. Winter 

 buds: terminal present, conical, green, scaly; flower buds 1-1 V^ 

 inches long. 



BARK. Thin; red-brown; broken into thin scales. 



WOOD. Unimportant; heavy; hard; diffuse-porous; fine- 

 textured; used for pipe bowls. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Tolerant; moist, cool, shady 

 sites; often in thickets; does not like limy soils. 



GENERAL. Two other species reach tree size: Catawba 

 rhododendron, R. catawbiense Michx., with broader leaves 

 3-5 inches long and ranging from Virginia to Alabama; and 

 Pacific rhododendron, R. macrophyllum D. Don, ranging from 

 British Columbia to California. The Azaleas are shrubby species 

 of this genus with deciduous leaves. 



* * * 



Mountain-laurel 



Kalmia latifolia L. 



This beautiful shrub or small tree resembles rhododendron 

 and is a common ornamental. It can be distinguished by its 

 flat, alternate, simple, persistent, elliptic-lanceolate leaves 3-4 

 inches long; by its showy, white to rose-colored flowers with 

 a saucer-shaped corolla with a short tube and 10 pouches below 

 the 5-parted limb; and by the globose, woody, glandular-hispid, 

 5-celled capsule l{^ inch in diameter which splits at maturity 

 into 5, persistent carpels releasing the many, minute, oblong, 

 winged seeds. 



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