Beprinted from the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, Vol XXIII, 

 No. 274, October, 1922. 



WILD FLOWERS NEEDING PROTECTION^ 

 14. Great Laurel or Rose Bay {Rhododendron maximum L.) 



{With plate zyf) 



This is the tallest of our native rhododendrons, as its specific 

 name implies. Its generic name refers to the rose-color of 

 the flowers and the tree-like habit of many of the species, which, 

 though usually shrubby, sometimes attain a height of 20 to 40 

 feet in this country and in China reach 50 feet and constitute 

 large areas of the forest, mixed with wonderful groves of Mag- 

 nolia. Some of these new Chinese species have yellow flowers, 

 thus adding a new color series in this already wonderful genus, 

 and making possible an entirely new series of hybrids, perhaps 

 as varied and beautiful as those of the yellow Azalea, which 

 by many students is classed with the Rhododendron. 



The rose bay is native only in eastern North America, ranging 

 from Nova Scotia and Ontario, southward along the Alleghanies 

 to Georgia, often growing in dense impenetrable thickets, in 

 wet woods and in shady ravines, being particularly abundant 

 in the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Its southern 

 relative, R. Catawhiense, is abundant on Roan Mt., N. C, and 

 gives its name to that summit, from the deep purplish-pink 

 color of its flowers. Both these species grow readily from seed 

 and hybridize freely having been the source of many showy 

 cultivated varieties which are replacing their parents in gardens. 

 Still, car-loads are often shipped to dealers from the southern 

 states, and their valuable wood and decorative masses of ever- 



1 Illustrated by the aid of the Stokes Fund for the Preservation of Nativ 

 plants. 



