368 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



of the hardy rhododendrons which, therefore, are usually called "Catawbiense 

 hybrids." These hybrids, together with the two native species and the 

 mountain laurel, are the broad-leaved evergreens best adapted for the 

 planting of large groups; they are pleasant to behold all the year round on 

 account of the handsome large foliage and extremely beautiful in spring and 

 early summer when they are covered with masses of showy flowers in various 

 colors. 



R. maximum, L. Great Laurel. Shrub or small tree attaining 35 feet 

 in height; young branchlets glandular-pubescent at first, soon glabrous: 

 leaves narrow-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acute at the ends or short-acumi- 

 nate at apex, 4-12 inches long, dark green and lustrous above, beneath 

 covered with a pale or brownish, thin and very close scurfy tomentum, 

 rarely glabrous or nearly so at maturity: flowers in 15-24-flowered clus- 

 ters; pedicels glandular-pubescent; calyx-lobes ovate to oblong, as 

 long or half as long as ovary; corolla campanulate, 13^-2 inches across, 

 deeply 5-lobed, with oval lobes, usually rose-colored, the upper lobe 

 spotted yellowish-green; ovary glandular. Flowers in June and July. 

 Nova Scotia and Ontario south to Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio. — Intro- 

 duced to Great Britain in 1736. One of the hardiest species, being hardy as 

 far north as Quebec and Ontario. The color of the flower varies from rose- 

 colored, var. roseimi, Pursh, to purple, var. purpureum, Pursh, and white, 

 var. album, Pursh. 



KALMIA, L. 



Evergreen, rarely deciduous shrubs, very rarely a small tree; winter-buds 

 minute, with about two outer scales, the terminal bud wanting ; the inflores- 

 cence not inclosed during the winter in a bud: leaves alternate or opposite, 

 short-petioled, entire, exstipulate: flowers in axillary or terminal corymbs 

 or umbels, rarely solitary; calyx 5-parted; corolla saucer-shaped or broadly 

 campanulate, 5-lobed; stamens 10, with slender filaments, the anthers held 

 in little pouches of the corolla and the filaments bent back; when the anthers 

 are released, the sudden straightening of the elastic filaments causes the 

 discharge of the pollen-grains; disk 10-lobed; ovary 5-celled, superior; style 

 filiform, exserted, with capitate stigma: fruit a subglobose capsule, separating 

 into 5 valves; seeds numerous, minute. (Named in honor of Peter Kalm, 

 Swedish botanist, traveled from 1748 to 1751 in North America.) — Seven 

 species in eastern North America and Cuba. 



K. latifolia, L. Mountain Laurel (American Laurel, Calico Bush). 

 Plate XL VIII. Shrub to 10 feet or rarely small tree to 30 feet tall: leaves 

 alternate, crowded at the end of the branchlets, elliptic-oblong to elliptic- 

 lanceolate, 3-4 inches long, acute at the ends, dark green above, yellowish- 

 green beneath; petiole about % inch long: flowers on slender glandular- 



