Mountain Rose Bay 



153 



or less glandular hairy at first, becoming dark green and shining above, pale and 

 scurfy beneath; leaf-stalk about 3 cm. long. The flowers open in June and July 

 in umbel-like clusters 10 to 13 cm. across, 

 on slender, hairy pedicels 2.5 to 4 cm. 

 long; calyx bell-shaped, its lobes blunt, 

 longer than the tube; corolla white or pink 

 to purplish, 3 to 6 cm. across, more or less 

 mottled with yellow, the lobes rounded; 

 stamens 8 to 12, their filaments more or 

 less bearded, and of various lengths; 

 ovary glandular hairy; style white, thick- 

 ened at the apex; stigma scarlet, 5-lobed. 

 The fruit is oblong or ovoid-oblong, 1.5 

 cm. long, hairy, tipped with the remnants 

 of the style; the numerous seeds are ob- 

 long, fringed at the ends. 



The wood is hard, strong, close-grained 

 and light brown; its specific gravity is 

 about 0.63. It is used in turnery, for tool- 

 handles, and has been tried in wood en- 

 graving. The bark is sometimes used 

 domestically as a remedy for rheumatism and other diseases. The plant is highly 

 ornamental and is now being used in large quantities for planting in parks and 

 on large lawns, for which purposes wild plants are usually secured from the moun- 

 tains; it blooms after most of the brighter colored hybrid Rhododenrons are past. 



Fig. 6S7. Great Laurel. 



Fig. 688. Mountain Rose Bay. 



2. MOUNTAIN ROSE BAY 

 Rhododendron catawbiense Michaux 



This evergreen shrub, sometimes be- 

 comes a small tree, and is also called 

 Catawba Rhododendron and Carolina Rho- 

 dodendron. It occurs mostly on moun- 

 tain sides and summits, from Virginia and 

 West Virginia to Georgia and Alabama, 

 attaining a maximum height of 6 meters, 

 with a trunk diameter of i dm. 



The trunk is short, crooked, and much 

 branched, the branches stout. The bark 

 is thin, close and scaly. The twigs are 

 hairy, green or purphsh, becoming smooth, 

 marked by prominent leaf scars and gray 

 or grayish brown. The leaves are thick 



