B87 

 (leaf 2) 



botanical usage crystallizes in a uniform nomenclature for this difficult group, 

 the Forest Service is following Tidestrom 4 in recognizing K. vnAcrophylla, as 

 specifically distinct from K. polifoliu. The two species, however, if such they 

 are, are very closely related, are apparently identical from a stock-poisoning 

 standpoint, and are undoubtedly often confused with each other not only by 

 stockmen but by scientific investigators. 



KALMIAS 



Kal'mia spp. 



The kalmias compose a small genus of acid-soil plants of the heath family, 

 represented in North America by about 6 species. There are two western 

 species, both of which have been referred to above. Bog kalmia, like alpine 

 kalmia, is also poisonous, a fact which somewhat increases the possibility of 

 livestock losses as it grows under similar conditions but at somewhat lower 

 elevations than alpine kalmia. The longer-leaved eastern species are larger 

 plants, usually over 2 feet in height, with one species, mountain-laurel, or 

 kalmia (K. la-tifolia), a large shrub sometimes becoming a tree over 2() feet 

 high. 



Most of the kalmias are desirable as ornamentals, being erect shrubs with 

 attractive evergreen leaves and showy, rose-purple or white flowers. The east- 

 ern species, such as mountain-laurel and lambkill (K. angustifolia) , inhabit 

 wooded areas and, therefore, are more adaptable to cultivation than the west- 

 ern, subalpine species. 



The name of the genus honors Peter Kalm, a student of Linnaeus, who col- 

 lected plants in America during the eighteenth century. 



The western kalmias are easily distinguished from most of the other shrubby 

 western genera of the heath family by their small size and their occurrence at 

 high altitudes and in typically moist and boggy sites. The exceptions to this 

 rule are the two genera, mountainheaths (Phyllodoce spp.) and cassiopes 

 (Cassiope spp.), that also inhabit the subalpine zone. The western representa- 

 tives of these two genera somewhat resemble alpine kalmia in height, but 

 are easily distinguishable in the field by their smaller and more numerous 

 leaves (in Cassiope, scale-like), their more bell-shaped flowers, and their 

 general occurrence on ridges, slopes, and meadow borders, rather than in 

 very wet sites. 



4 Tidestrom, I. FLOBA OF UTAH AND NEVADA. TJ. S. Natl. Mus., Contrib. U. S. Natl. 

 Herbarium 25, 665 pp., illus. 1925. 



