WHITE 



the London Times, is celebrated for its fine specimens of moun- 

 tain laurel and American rhododendron. The English papers 

 advertise the approach of the flowering season, the estate is 

 thrown open to the public, and the people for miles around flock 

 to see the radiant strangers from across the water. The shrub is 

 not known there as the laurel, but by its generic title, Kalmia, 

 The head gardener of the place received with some incredulity 

 my statement that in parts of America the waste hill-sides were 

 brilliant with its beauty every June. 



The ingenious contrivance of these flowers to secure cross- 

 fertilization is most interesting. The long filaments of the sta- 

 mens are arched by the fact that each anther is caught in a little 

 pouch of the corolla ; the disturbance caused by the sudden alight- 

 ing of an insect on the blossom, or the quick brush of a bee's wing, 

 dislodges the anthers from their niches, and the stamens spring 

 upward with such violence that the pollen is jerked from its hid- 

 ing-place in the pore of the anther-cell on to the body of the in- 

 sect-visitor, who straightway carries it off to another flower upon 

 whose protruding stigma it is sure to be inadvertently deposited. 

 In order to see the working of this for one's self, it is only nec- 

 essary to pick a fresh blossom and either brush the corolla quickly 

 with one's finger, or touch the stamens suddenly with a pin, 

 when the anthers will be dislodged and the pollen will be 

 seen to fly. 



This is not the laurel of the ancients the symbol of victory 

 and fame notwithstanding some resemblance in the form of the 

 leaves. The classic shrub is supposed to be identical with the 

 Laurus nobilis> which was carried to our country by the early 

 colonists, but which did not thrive in its new environment. 



The leaves of our species are supposed to possess poisonous 

 qualities, and are said to have been used by the Indians for sui- 

 cidal purposes. There is also a popular belief that the flesh of a 

 partridge which has fed upon its fruit becomes poisonous. The 

 clammy exudation about the flower-stalks and blossoms may 

 serve the purpose of excluding from the flower such small insects 

 as would otherwise crawl up to it, dislodge the stamens, scatter 



44 



