THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL. 



[Kalmia latifolia.) 



About the middle of the eighteenth 

 century an enthusiastic botanist and col- 

 lector, Peter Kalm, gathered specimens in 

 America of a beautiful plant which he 

 carried back to the gardens of Europe 

 and also to his preceptor, the naturalist 

 Linnaeus. In the year 1753 Linnaeus 

 named the plant, honoring his pupil by 

 giving to the plant the generic name Kal- 

 mia. He also gave it the specific name 

 latifolia, referring to its broad leaves. 



The genus Kalmia includes six known 

 species, five of which are natives of east- 

 ern North America and one a native of 

 Cuba. They are all beautiful shrubs, 

 varying in height from a few inches to 

 several feet. 



The plant of our illustration is a native 

 of the eastern portion of the United 

 States, where it grows in sandy or rocky 

 woods and is more abundant in moun- 

 tainous regions. This shrub, which 

 grows to a maximum height o^f twenty 

 feet, is a superb object early in June, 

 when it is covered with corymbs of rather 

 large pink or pinkish-white flowers and 

 numerous evergreen leaves. 



Easily cultivated and highly orna- 

 mental, it has been introduced into the 

 greenhouses and gardens of this and 

 European countries. 



In spite of the beauty of this plant, it 

 has a bad reputation, for its leaves are 

 narcotic and poisonous to some animals. 

 ''Even the intelligent grouse, hard 

 pressed with hunger when deep snow cov- 

 ers much of their chosen food, are some- 

 times found dead and their crops dis- 

 tended by these leaves." 



We cannot show the characteristics of 

 this plant in any better way than to quote 

 from "Nature's Garden," where we find 

 the following passage : 



''All the Kalmias resort to a most in- 

 g-enious device for compelling insect visi- 

 tors to carry their pollen from blossom 

 to blossom. A newly opened flowxr 

 has its stigma erected where the incom- 

 ing bee must leave on its sticky surface 

 the four minute orange-like grains car- 

 ried from the anther of another flower 

 on the hairy underside of her body. 

 Now, each anther is tucked away in one 

 of the ten little pockets of the saucer- 

 shaped blossom and the elastic filaments 

 are strained upward like a bow. After 

 hovering above the nectary, the bee has 

 only to descend towards it, when her leg, 

 touching against one of the hair-trig- 

 gers of the spring trap, pop ! goes the lit- 

 tle anther-gun, discharging pollen from 

 its bores as it flies upward. So deli- 

 cately is the mechanism adjusted, the 

 slightest jar or rough handling releases 

 the anthers ; but, on the other hand, 

 should insects be excluded by a net 

 stretched over the plant, the flowers will 

 fall of¥ and wither without firing ofif their 

 pollen-charged guns. At least this is 

 true in the great majority of tests. As 

 in the case of hot-house flowers, no fertile 

 seed is set when nets keep away the 

 laurel's benefactors." 



Many of our readers reside near the 

 home of the Mountain Laurel and can 

 examine the interesting features of this 

 beautiful plant in Nature's own garden. 

 Those that do this will be well repaid. 



Violets stir and arbutus waits, 



Cla)'tonia's rosy bells unfold; 

 Dandelion through the meadow makes 



A royal road, with seals of gold. 



— Helen Hunt Jackson, 



232 



