﻿Trees of New York State 321 



ERICACEAE 



Rhododendron maximum L. 



Rhododendron, Great Laurel 



Habit — A shrub 5-12 feet tall, or southward in the mountains becoming a 

 bushy tree 30-35 feet in height with a trunk 10-12 inches in diameter. 

 Trunk generally short, crooked, ascending or often prostrate. Branches 

 stout, contorted, forming a bushy, round-topped crown. 



Leaves — Alternate, persistent, clustered near the branch-tips, ovate-lanceo- 

 late or obovate-lanceolate, 4-12 inches long, l%-2i/4 inches wide, acute 

 at the apex, cuneate or rounded at the base, entire and somewhat revolute 

 on the margin, at maturity thick, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous 

 above, pale whitish below, borne on stout petioles 1-1^/^ inches in length. 



Flowers — Appearing in June and July from separate flower-buds formed the 

 previous summer, sho^vy, perfect, pale rose to white in color, borne on 

 slender, glandular-pubescent, pink pedicels in 16-24-flowered umbellate 

 clusters 4-5 inches in diameter. Caljrx light green, puberulous, persistent 

 in fruit, with 5 oblong, rounded, rather remote lobes. Corolla campanu- 

 late, puberulent in the throat, gibbous posteriorly, cleft to the middle 

 into oval, rounded lobes, the upper one yellow-spotted on the inner face. 

 Stamens 8-12, of varying length, consisting of filaments which are flat- 

 tened below and bearded with stiff white hairs, and white, oval anthers. 

 Pistil consisting of an ovate, green, glandular-pubescent ovarj', termi- 

 nated by an elongate, slender, declined style, and terminal, scarlet stigma. 



Fruit — An oblong-ovoid, dark reddish brown, glandular-hispid capsule, about 

 1/4 of an inch long, subtended at the base by the persistent calj-^x and 

 croA\Tied with the persistent style. In the autumn the capsule splits 

 septicidally into 5 carpels which separate from the persistent central axis 

 and open doAvn the inner side. Seeds oblong, flattened, winged at the 

 ends. Capsules persist on the twigs until the following season. 



Winter characters — Twigs stout, dark green, glabrous, becoming bright red- 

 dish brown the second year. Leaf -buds conical, dark green, covered mth 

 many closely imbricated scales. Flower-buds usually terminal, cone- 

 shaped, I-IV2 inches long, covered with many imbricated, ovate scales. 

 Mature bark thin, reddish brown, peeling off at the surface into thin 

 scales. 



Habitat — At the northern limits of its range, confined to cold, springy 

 swamps. Farther south it is found in moist, shady situations along the 

 precipitous banks of mountain streams and in hilly woods at elevations 

 up to 3000 feet. 



Range — Nova Scotia westward to the northern shores of Lake Erie, south- 

 ward along the mountains to Georgia and Alabama. Zones A and B. 



Uses — The Great Laurel is of distinct ornamental value because of its large, 

 coriaceous, persistent leaves and showy flowers. It is often collected in 

 carload lots directly from the woods and used extensively in moist, pro- 

 tected situations in park planting. Like the Mountain Laurel, it will 

 not thrive on limestone soils. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained. Occa- 

 sionally used in engraving as a substitute for boxwood, for tool 

 handles, etc. 



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