WILD FLOWERS PINK 



leaves, like individual bouquets. The flowers are 

 curiously constructed. The corolla is bowl-shaped 

 with five low points, and around the middle, on the 

 outside, there is a circle of ten short, blunt projections 

 forming, on the inside, tiny pockets in which are held 

 the tips of the ten stamens. The silky, white stamens 

 are arched backward from the centre of the corolla 

 somewhat like spokes in a wheel. The pale green 

 pistil has a ten-pointed star outlined in purple around 

 its base, corresponding to the hub of the wheel. A 

 slight touch releases the stamens from the little pockets 

 and they snap violently toward the pistil, scattering a 

 little shower of pollen and thereby accomplishing the 

 purpose for which they were intended. The pink bud 

 is cone-like and corrugated. The green calyx is 

 insignificant. Honey made from these flowers has 

 been found to be poisonous, and the Government has 

 classed the Kalmias among our principal poisonous 

 plants. The foliage is very destructive to cattle and 

 sheep. It contains a dangerous substance which, 

 when eaten, is more deadly than strychnine. Children 

 have been overcome from the intoxicating effects of 

 eating the young shoots, which they have mistaken 

 for Wintergreen. The Indians were familiar with 

 the poisonous nature of the leaves and made a decoc- 

 tion therefrom which they drank when disposed with 

 suicidal intent. The leaves have also been used illegally 

 to simulate the effects of cheap liquors. This hand- 

 some genus of American Laurels was dedicated to 

 Peter Kalin, who was a pupil of Linnaeus, and who 



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