WILD FLOWERS pink 



flower of Flanders. Honey made from these flowers 

 is said to cause ill effects. 



AMERICAN, OR GREAT RHODODENDRON 

 GREAT LAUREL. ROSE TREE, OR BAY 



Rhododendron maximum. Heath Family. 



This plant has been considered to be the handsomest 

 and most beautiful of our native ornamental shrubs. 

 It is now highly esteemed and extensively used for 

 decorating home grounds and parks. In the Alle- 

 ghany regions it covers entire mountain sides so 

 densely as to make any attempt to penetrate them 

 well-nigh impossible. The flowers are arranged in 

 large terminal clusters which nearly cover the plant 

 during June and July, and present a sight that is 

 magnificent beyond description. The wood is hard, 

 and strong, light brown in colour, and a cubic foot 

 weighs thirty-nine pounds. The Rhododendron has 

 been adopted as the state flower of Washington and 

 West Virginia. Honey made from the flowers is said to 

 be poisonous. It is a tall, branching shrub, or some- 

 times a tree upward of forty feet high and a foot in 

 diameter, but usually from six to thirty feet high. The 

 long-oblong or broad lance-shaped evergreen leaves 

 are narrowed toward the base, and are very smooth, 

 leathery, toothless, and shiny. They are dark green, 

 blunt-pointed, short-stemmed and strongly ribbed. 

 The flower, which often grows two inches broad, 

 is bell-shaped, with five spreading, oval lobes. They 

 are usually rose coloured, varying to white, with a 



6 9 



