138 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. ERICACEA. 
vania, and in an alpine form ranges from Sitka to the high mountains of California and Colorado. 
Two species, one of which under favorable conditions occasionally becomes a small tree, are widely 
distributed through the eastern part of North America; two are confined to the coast region of the 
southern Atlantic states, and one with rigid heath-like leaves, Kalmia ericoides,' has been seen only in 
Cuba. 
Kalmia has few useful properties. The leaves of Kalmia latifolia and of Kalmia angustifolia? 
are usually believed to be poisonous to animals, and cases of men poisoned by eating the flesh of birds 
which have fed upon the buds and leaves are reported.’ The poisonous properties of Kalmia, however, 
are probably much exaggerated by popular fancy, and need scientific demonstration. Kalmia is slightly 
astringent, sedative, and antisyphilitic, and is occasionally used in medicine,‘ although its value is 
doubted by many physicians.> All the species bear handsome and interesting flowers, and those which 
inhabit the north are much cultivated. Where they can be successfully grown no other shrubs surpass 
these in value or beauty as garden plants. 
The generic name commemorates the scientific labors of the Swedish traveler and botanist, Peter 
Kalm,° a friend and pupil of Linneus, who traveled in castern North America in the middle of the 
last century. 
1 Grisebach, Cat. Pl. Cub. 51 (1866). 4G. G. Thomas, /naug. Diss. — B. S. Barton, Coil. ed. 2, !. 18, 
? Linneus, Spec. 391 (1753).— Bot. Mag. x. t.331.—Guimpel, 48; ii. 26.—Rafinesque, Med. Fl. ii. 18.— Boston Med. and Surg. 
Otto & Hayne, Abbild. Holz. 164, t. 138. — De Candolle, Prodr. vii. Jour. x. 213. — Griffith, Med. Bot. 428, f. 192. — U. S. Dispens. ed. 
729. — Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Am. ii. 37.— Watson & Coulter, Gray’s 16, 1834. 
Man. ed. 6, 319. 5 Johnson, Man. Med. Bot. N. Am. 194. 
3 Kalm, Travels, English ed. i. 337. — Bigelow, Med. Bot. i. 133, 8 See ii. 86. 
t. 13. — Porcher, Resources of Southern Fields and Forests, 381-383. 
