HEATH FAMILY. Ericaceae. 



the appearance of a true fruit. 2-5 inches high. From 

 Me., south, and west to Mich. The same aromatic 

 essential oil exists in sweet birch as in this wintergreen. 



A stout and tall shrub in its south- 

 Mountain 



Laurel ern ran g e often forming impenetrable 



Kalmia thickets. The stem and branches are ir- 



latifolia regular and angular in growth ; the leaves 



White, pinkish are ever green, shiny dark green, elliptical, 

 May-June rp u , 



firm, and toothless. The young leaves are 



a yellower green. The beautiful flowers are borne in 

 large, dome-shaped clusters ; they are exceedingly con- 

 ventional and ornamental in form, bowl-shaped with 

 five lobes, waxy white, pinkish- tinged in maturity, and 

 pure pink in the corrugated, cone-shaped bud. There 

 are ten depressions or pockets in the sides of the corolla 

 in which the tips of the anthers are securely held, their 

 filaments forming a series of arching spokes from the 

 centre of the flower which is stained with a tiny crimson 

 star; the style is prominent and pale green. The insect 

 visitor, commonly a moth, often a bee, struggling and 

 pushing its way to the heart of the flower, releases the 

 stamens and these spring backward, showering pollen 

 over the fuzzy body of the intruder. The pollen of 

 Kalmia is more or less connected by webby threads, and 

 its adhesive character is peculiarly adapted to the pur- 

 pose of cross-fertilization ; the next blossom visited by 

 the insect probably has a receptive stigma about which 

 the pollen strings become quickly entangled. The 

 flower-stalks are hairy-sticky, thus preventing pilferers, 

 such as ants, who would be useless as fertilizing agents, 

 from entering the blossoms. The seed-capsule is some- 

 what globular but five-lobed, and at first assumes a dull 

 red hue. 3-6 feet high, and in its southern range often 

 attaining a height of 20-35 feet. In woodlands, prefer- 

 ring sandy soil or rocky slopes, from Me., south, and 

 west to Tenn. and Ohio. Named for Peter Kalm, a 

 German botanist, who visited this country in the middle 

 of the eighteenth century. 



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