Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 245 



SHEEP LAUREL; LAMBKILL (Kalmia angustifol- 



ia) is a small shrubby species, ranging from 8 to 36 

 inches high and is no less beautiful than the pre- 

 ceeding. Besides the common names given above, it 

 is less often known as "Sheep Poison" and "Wicky," 

 a rather sinister lot of names to be applied to a shrub 

 with such handsome flowers. 



All of the laurels have dangerous properties, the 

 juices of the leaves being very poisonous. It is also 

 claimed that honey made by bees, feeding on the 

 nectar from laurel blossoms, is also poisonous. This 

 species gets its many names, referring to its destruc- 

 tive effects on sheep, because it grows in abundance 

 in pastures suitable only for the pasturage of sheep. 

 The leaves of this small laurel look tempting but are 

 very often fatal to the animals eating them. 



The small, oblong leaves are rather closely set on 

 the upright, woody stems either oppositely or in 

 threes; they are bright green above and much paler 

 on the under side, often spotted with rusty; the stem 

 and the midrib is of a yellowish shade of green. 



The handsome flowers are grouped in clusters 

 about the middle of the branches or near the top, 

 with a dense cluster of light green leaves, of new 

 growth, just forcing its way above them. Their 

 shapes, forms and mechanisms are about like those 

 of the Mountain Laurel, but the color is a beautiful, 

 deep pink; little red anthers fit snugly in the ten 

 little pockets formed for them in the surface of the 

 corolla. Sheep Laurel is common from Lab. to Ont. 

 and southwards, blooming in June and July. 



PALE LAUREL (Kalmia polifolia) is similar but 

 distinguished by its two-edged branches, the whit- 

 ish green under surface of the leaves and their rolled- 

 up edges. It grows from Lab. to Alaska and south- 

 wards. 



