Kalmia latifolia, 
THE BROAD-LEAVED KALMIA. 
Synonymes. 
Kalmia latifolia. 
( Linnjeus, Species Plantarum. 
I Michaux, North American Sylva. 
j Bigelovv, Medical Botany. 
' Don, Miller's Dictionary. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Britain. 
Anglo-America. 
Kalmia a larges feuilles, 
Breitblattrige Kalmia, 
Broad-leaved Kalmia, 
Laurel, Mountain Laurel, Ivy, Calico 
Bush, Calico-tree, Calico Flower, 
Derivations. The specific name latifolia is derived from the Latin latus, broad, and folium, a leaf, havin? reference to the 
broad eaves of this species. The French anil German names have the same signification as the botanic one. It is called Calico- 
tree, Calico Flower, &c, on account of its beautiful spotted flowers. 
Engravings. Michaux North American Sylva, pi. 63; Catesby, Natural History of Carolina, ii.. pi. 93; Audubon, Birds of 
America, i., lv. ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 959; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves on long petioles, scattered, or 3 in a whorl, oval, coriaceous, smooth, and 
green on both surfaces. Corymbs terminal, downy, and viscid. Don, Miller's Diet. 
Description. 
HE 
Kalmia latifolia 
is a large evergreen 
shrub or low tree, 
growing to a height 
of fifteen or twenty feet, in favourable situa- 
tions, with a stem three or four inches in dianir 
eter; but ordinarily it does not attain more 
than one half of these dimensions. Its leaves 
are of a coriaceous texture, oval-acuminate, 
entire, and about three inches long. The 
flowers, which put forth from May to July, are 
sometimes of a pure white, tinted with pale- 
pink, delicately spotted ; but, in general, they 
are of a beautiful rose-colour, and are destitute 
of odour. They are disposed in corymbs at the 
extremity of the branches; and, as they are 
always numerous, their brilliant effect is height- 
ened by the richness of the surrounding foliage. 
The seeds are very minute, and are contained 
in small, globular capsules. 
Geography and History. The Kalmia latifolia is indigenous to North Amoi- 
ica, from Canada to Carolina. It rarely occurs, however, north of the forty-sec- 
ond or forty-third degrees of north latitude, and is but sparingly produced in 
Kentucky and western Tennessee, and disappears entirely in the southern states 
wherever the rivers enter the low country, or where the pine-barrens begin. 
Although it is comparatively abundant along the rivers of the middle and south- 
ern states, it is nowhere seen more profusely multipl'^d, nor of a greater height, 
