60 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:2— Feb., 1917 



:can we appreciate the beauty of our laurel. No flower of wood, 

 field or marsh can surpass the beauty of a freshly opened bud, 

 ..when it deepens and fades to paler tints according to the location, 

 soil, etc., and its own individuality. 



Its scientific name is Kalmia latifolia and it belongs to the Heath 

 family which is familiar to us since it contains the azaleas, rhodo- 

 dendrons, and the dainty trailing arbutus. The buds arid newly 

 opened flowers are rose pink in color, but these fade to white 

 with only pink lines showing. The flowers have been compared 

 I with little, quaint five-pointed umbrella tops with ten recurved 

 | stamens for the spokes — each anther securely socketed till 

 some bee alights. The sticky stigma is erect ready to receive 

 the pollen from another flower which the bee has visited, and 

 after hovering above the nectary the bee has only to descend 

 toward it and possibly touch one of the curved filaments, when 

 suddenly off will go the little "anther gun," discharging the pollen. 

 So delicate is this mechanism that the least jar will release the 

 anthers. 



This laurel sometimes grows to a height of thirty feet in the 

 mountains of Pennsylvania, and it is more or less abundant 

 from Canada to Georgia. To transplant it, one has only to secure 

 acid soil for a border, dig the plant up carefully, and transplant 

 it, meanwhile being especially careful not to allow the roots to 

 dry out. The laurel like the huckleberry needs acid soil to make 

 it thrive. 



This shrub is carefully cultivated in England, being known as 

 Kalmia. At Barewood Gardens, the home of the editor of the 

 London Times, there are many fine shrubs of this and of our 

 rhododendrons. The English papers announce the blossoming 

 season and the estate is thrown open to the public, people coming 

 from great distances to admire our laurel. 



The generic name is that of a Swedish botanist Peter Kalm, 

 a pupil of Linnaeus, who gave the plant his name. Kalm traveled 

 in this country early in the eighteenth century and became 

 more impressed by its beauty than that of any other flower. 

 He introduced it into Europe where it is so highly prized. 



The classic shrub is supposed to be identical with Laurel 

 nobilis. This was brought over by the colonists but it did not 

 thrive in its new environment. However, our laurel belongs to 

 this distinguished family of plants, which has crowned poets 





