THE HEATH FAMILY. ^^^^ 



Carolina there is a stretch of fully a thousand acres over whicii tlie various 

 species vie with each other in strength and luxury of bloom. As \vc 

 drove along through this region they bordered the road in many places, 

 arising often so high that only their bare branches were on a level wiih our 

 eyes. The great mass of leaves was far above. Fairly they climb over the 

 mountains and in the spring transform them into huge bouquets. 



7?. vaseyi is local in its habitat, growing mostly in the mountainous 

 parts of North Carolina and always near swamps or in washed places. Its 

 rose-pink flowers burst out in May from very large llower-buds which early 

 in March are well swollen and show scales tipped with black. Later the 

 leaves unfold. This species is the only one in our range which is not ever- 

 green during the winter. Thousands and thousands of these plants grow 

 .through parts of western North Carolina. On (Grandfather Mountain as 

 well as at Lake Sapphire we heard constantly their praises sung by visitors. 



R. ptinc latum, little or dwarf laurel, dotted-leaved rhododendron, is the 

 smallest of our evergreen species. It has seldom about it that great luxury 

 of bloom which we associate with the others, its growth being more scattered 

 and the bunches of flowers thinner. Often it is a rusty-looking shrub, but 

 still in bloom very beautiful, and besides the first to JdIossoui. Usually it 

 clings to the borders of mountain streams and early in May begins to show 

 its rose-pink flowers. It would seem as though two forms of this shrub 

 existed in the mountains of North Carolina where they are natives. The 

 one has its corolla darkly spotted with yellow and green in the throat and is 

 of a deep pink ; the other shows almost a pale flesh tint and is without mark- 

 ings whatsoever. Of both sorts the calyx and corolla are much dotted with 

 a viscid matter. 



R. maxiumm, great laurel or rose-bay, an old friend among the genus 

 and which appeals to me as the most beautiful, is covered in early June with 

 large waxy white flowers marked with yellow or orange spots. In cool, 

 moist places along the mountains it forms sometimes thickets so inter- 

 woven and close as to be almost impenetrable, many of the plants stretch- 

 ing upward as trees to nearly forty feet high and interlacing themselves 

 with the boughs of others. Through the Alleghanies, where it attains a 

 luxury as in no other region, we again and again were held in admiration 

 of it as it mingled with the common hemlock and Eraser's magnolia, or fol- 

 lowed the ridges at a lower altitude than Rhododendron Catawbiense. 



R. Chai7ipcmi, which inhabits sandy barrens along the coast of the far 

 south, is although small a lively sight in April when abundantly lit by its 

 rose coloured and spotted blossoms. lis very thick leaves, oval, or ovate, arc 

 dotted underneath and the stiff reddish brown branches are covered with a 

 silvery grey coating. 



