174 Heath (Ericaceae) 



flower have fallen. Seed-case, not adherent to the 

 calyx. 



Leaves, evergreen, opposite or alternate, entire, thick. 

 Fruit, mostly round, five-celled, many-seeded. A capsule. 



Fig. 80. Mountain Laurel. Calico-Bush. Spoon-Wood. 



K. latifblia, L. 



Flowers, three quarters to five sixths of an inch across, 

 rose-colored to white, in large, many-blossomed, 

 terminal clusters, crowning the last year's leaves ; 

 sticky. May, June. 



Leaves, mostly two to four inches long, oftenest alternate, 

 sometimes opposite or in threes ; shining, smooth on 

 both sides. Side-veins, imperceptible below. Bark, 

 in the larger specimens in short, rounded, and often 

 flaky ridges, curiously forked at their ends. Wood, 

 crooked, fine-grained, compact. 



Fruit, rounded, five-celled, imperfectly five-angled, set 

 with sticky hairs. September. 



Found, usually in damp woods from Canada and Maine 

 to Ohio and Kentucky, and in all the Atlantic States 

 southward to Georgia. 



One of our most beautifully flowering shrubs, ever- 

 green, four to eight feet high, or sometimes even twenty 

 feet in height, with crooked and twisting stems and 

 branches. The leaves and juices are narcotic, and are 

 said to be poisonous to browsing cattle. Well worthy 

 of cultivation. 



" When the clumps of Mountain Laurel are in bloom 

 it is worth while going out of one's way to see them." 



