564 



ERICACEAE. 



[Vol.. II. 



2. Kalmia latifolia L. American or Moun- 

 tain Laurel. Calico-busb (Fig. 2757.) 



Kalmia latifolia L. Sp. PI. 391. 1753. 



A shrub with very stiff branches and terete twigs, 

 often forming dense thickets, io-2o high, rarely 

 becoming a tree with a maximum height of about 

 40 and trunk diameter of 18'. Leaves alternate, 

 or some of them opposite, or rarely verticillate in 

 3's, petioled, glabrous, oval or elliptic, acute at 

 both ends, flat, green on both sides, persistent, 

 2'-5' long, >^ / -i>4 / wide; flowers 9"-i2" broad, 

 pink to white, numerous and showy in compound 

 terminal corymbs; pedicels bracted and 2-bracteo- 

 late at the base, slender, #'-!#' long, densely 

 glandular, erect, even in fruit; sepals and corolla 

 glandular; capsule depressed-globose, 5-lobed, 

 glandular, 2"-3" in diameter; calyx and filiform 

 style long-persistent, the latter falling when the 

 capsule begins to open. 



In woods, preferring: sandy or rocky soil. New Bruns- 

 wick, Ontario, Ohio, to Florida and Louisiana. Wood 

 very hard, brown; weight per cubic foot 44 l' )s C.ilh d 

 also Clamoun. Spoonwooa, Broad-leaved Kalmia, Ivy- 

 bush. May-June. 



Kalmia latifolia myrtifolia Rand, Rhodod. 125- 1876. 

 Low, compactly much branched, seldom over 3 high; leaves not over \\V long and 3 -4 

 wide. Massachusetts. 



3. Kalmia glatica Ait. Pale or Swamp Laurel. (Fig. 2758.) 



Kalmia glauca Ait. Hort. Kew. 2: 64. pi. S, 1811. 



A glabrous shrub, 6 / -2 high, with erect or as- 

 cending branches, the twigs 2-edged. Leaves op- 

 posite or sometimes in 3's, very nearly sessile, ob- 

 long or linear-oblong; mostly obtuse at the apex, 

 narrowed at the base, green above, white-glaucous 

 beneath, #'-2' long, a"-6" wide, the margins 

 revolute, often strongly so; flowers in simple um- 

 bels terminating the branches, few (1-13), purple, 

 5"-9" broad; pedicels filiform, #'-!#' long, 

 erect, even in fruit; sepals ovate, scarious-margined, 

 acutish or obtuse, persistent; capsule depressed-glo- 

 bose, glabrous, about *W in diameter. 



In bogs, Newfoundland to Hudson Bay and Alaska, 

 south to northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michi- 

 gan, in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado, and in the 

 Sierra Nevada to California. Summer. 



4. Kalmia hirsuta Walt. Hairy Laurel. 

 (Fig. 2759.) 



Kalmia hirsuta Walt. Fl. Car. 138. 1788. 



A branching shrub, i-2 high, the branches as- 

 cending, hirsute. Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 

 very nearly sessile, flat, or the margins slightly revo- 

 lute, villous-hirsute, acute or obtusish, becoming 

 glabrate in age, dark green above, lighter beneath, 

 3"-6" long; flowers solitary, or rarely 2-3 together 

 in the axils, rose-purple, 5"-9" broad; pedicels very 

 slender, nearly or quite glabrous; sepals ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, acute, or lanceolate, hirsute or ciliate, longer 

 than the capsule, at length deciduous; capsule de- 

 pressed, about i#" in diameter, glabrous. 



In moist pine-barrens, eastern Virginia to Florida. 

 May-Aug. ' 



