Magenta to Pink 



buds ; pedicels sticky-hairy. Calyx ^-parted, minute ; 

 corolla 5-lobed, broadly bell-shaped, 2 in. broad or less ; 

 usually 10 stamens, equally spreading; 1 pistil. Stem: 

 Sometimes a tree attaining a height of 40 ft., usually 6 to 20 

 ft., shrubby, woody. Leaves: Evergreen, drooping in win- 

 ter, leathery, dark green on both sides, lance-oblong, 4 to 10 

 in. long, entire edged, narrowing into stout petioles. 



Preferred Habitat — Mountainous woodland, hillsides near streams. 



Flowering Season — June — July. 



Distribution — Uncommon from Ohio and New England to Nova 

 Scotia ; abundant through the Alleghanies to Georgia. 



When this most magnificent of our native shrubs covers 

 whole mountain sides throughout the Alleghany region with 

 bloom, one stands awed in the presence of such overwhelming 

 beauty. Nowhere else does the rhododendron attain such size 

 or luxuriance. There it produces a tall trunk, and towers among 

 the trees; it spreads its branches far and wide until they interlock 

 and form almost impenetrable thickets locally called ''hells;" it 

 glorifies the loneliest mountain road with superb bouquets of its 

 delicate flowers set among dark, glossy foliage scarcely less attrac- 

 tive. The mountain in bloom is worth travelling a thousand 

 miles to see. 



Farther south the more purplish-pink or lilac-flowered Caro- 

 lina Rhododendron (R. Catawbiense) flourishes. This southern 

 shrub, which is perfectly hardy, unlike its northern sister, has 

 been used by cultivators as a basis for producing the fine hybrids 

 now so extensively grown on lawns in this country and Europe. 

 Crossed with the Nepal species (R. arboreum) the best results 

 follow. Americans, ever too prone to make the eagle scream 

 on their trips abroad, need not monopolize all the glory for the 

 cultivated rhododendron, as they are apt to do when they see it 

 on fine estates in England. The Himalayas, which are covered 

 with rhododendrons of brighter hue than ours, furnish many of 

 the shrubs of commerce. Our rhododendron produces one of the 

 hardest and strongest of woods, weighing thirty-nine pounds per 

 cubic foot. 



Rhododendrons, azaleas, and laurels fall under a common 

 ban pronounced by bee-keepers (see p. 126). The bees which 

 transfer pollen from blossom to blossom while gathering nectar, 

 manufacture honey said to be poisonous. Cattle know enough 

 to let all this foliage alone. Apparently the ants fear no more 

 evil results from the nectar than the bees themselves ; and were it 

 not for the sticky parts nearest the flowers, on which they crawl 

 to meet their death, the blossom's true benefactors would find 

 little refreshment left. 



124 



