ERICACEAE. (HEATH FAMILY.) 321 



Michx.) Woods, mountains of Penn. to Ga. May. Covered just when the 

 leaves appear with a profusion of large orange blossoms, usually turning to 

 flame-color, not fragrant. 



* * Flower-buds of fewer and early caducous scales; corolla irregular, with 

 short or hardly any tube, anteriorly divided to the base ; the limb equalling 

 the 10 stamens and style. 



5. R. Rhodora, Don. Young parts sparingly strigose-hairy (1-2 high) ; 

 leaves oblong, pale, more or less pubescent; corolla hardly 1' long, purplish- 

 rose-color, bilabiate, with the posterior lip 3-lobed, the anterior of 2 oblong- 

 linear and recurving nearly or quite distinct petals. (Rhodora Canadensis, L.) 



Cool bogs, Newf. and N. Eng. to mountains of Penn. 



2. RHODODENDRON proper. Leaves coriaceous and persistent ; stamens 

 (commonly 10) and style rarely exserted, somewhat declined, or sometimes 

 equally spreading. 



6. R. maximum, L. (GREAT LAUREL.) Leaves 4-10' long, very 

 thick, elliptical-oblong or lance-oblong, acute, narrowed toward the base, very 

 smooth, with somewhat revolute margins; pedicels viscid ; corolla bell-shaped, 

 1' broad, pale rose-color or nearly white, greenish in the throat on the upper 

 side, and spotted with yellow or reddish. Damp deep woods, rare from Maine 

 to Ohio, but very common through the Alleghanies from N. Y. to Ga. July. 



Shrub or tree 6 - .35 high. 



7. R. CatawbieiLSG, Michx. Leaves oval or oblong, rounded at both ends, 

 smooth, pale beneath (3-5' long); corolla broadly bell-shaped, lilac-purple; 

 pedicels rusty-downy. High Alleghanies, Va. to Ga. June. Shrub 3-6 

 (rarely 20) high. 



8. R. Lapponicum, Wahl. Dwarf, prostrate in broad tufts (6' high) ; 

 /eaves (-J' long) elliptical, obtuse, dotted (like the branches) with rusty scales; 

 umbels few-flowered; corolla open bell-shaped, dotted, violet-purple ; stamens 

 5 - 10. Alpine summits of northern N. Y. and N. Eng., to^he Arctic Coast. 

 July. (Arct. Eu. and Asia.) 



17. LEDUM, L. LABRADOR TEA. 



Calyx 5-toothed, very small. Corolla of 5 obovate and spreading distinct 

 petals. Stamens 5 - 10 ; anthers opening by terminal pores. Capsule 5-celled, 

 splitting from the base upward, many-seeded ; placentae borne on the summit 

 of the columella. Low shrubs, with the alternate entire leaves clothed with 

 rusty wool underneath, persistent, the margins revolute ; herbage slightly fra- 

 grant when bruised. Flowers white, small, in terminal umbel-like clusters 

 from large scaly buds ; bracts or scales thin and caducous. (AySov, the ancient 

 Greek name of the Cistus.) 



1. L. latifolium, Ait. Erect, 1-3 high; leaves oblong or linear-ob- 

 long (1-2' long), mostly ^' wide, very obtuse ; stamens 5 - 7 ; capsule oblong, 

 acutish. N. Eng. to Penn., Mich., Minn., and northward, in cold bogs and 

 mountain woods. 



L. PALUSTRE, L., with linear leaves, 10 stamens, and short-oval capsule, is 

 found in Newfoundland and northwestward. (Eu.) 



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