ERICACEZ—HEATH FAMILY 
MOUNTAIN LAUREL. KALMIA 
Adlmia latifolia. 
Kalmia commemorates the labors of Peter Kalm, a friend and pue 
pil of Linnzeus, who travelled in eastern North America in 1753. 
In the north a broad dense shrub five to ten feet high with many 
crooked branches and a round compact head; only becoming a tree 
on the mountains of North and South Carolina. Ranges from Can- 
ada to the Gulf along the highlands and mountains, and westward to 
Arkansas. It is tolerant of many locations, loves swamp land or 
dry slopes at the borders of the forest, will climb the mountain-side 
to an elevation of three thousand feet or more; does not flourish in 
a limestone country. Roots fibrous, matted. Easily cultivated. 
Bark.—Dark brown tinged with red, furrowed and scaly. Branch- 
lets at first light reddish green, downy, later smooth, red green and 
shining, finally all a bright red brown. 
Wood.—Brown tinged with red ; heavy, hard, rather brittle, close- 
grained. Sp. gr., 0.7160; weight of cu. ft., 44.62 lbs. 
Winter Buds.—Leaf-buds naked, forming in midsummer in the 
axils of leaves just below those from which the clusters of flower-buds 
are produced by which they are almost covered. The tip of the 
branch dies when these axillary buds are formed. Inner scales en- 
large with the growing shoot, becoming an inch long before falling. 
Leaves.—Alternate, or in pairs, or in threes, simple, persistent, 
oblong, three to four inches long, one’ to one and a half inches wide, 
wedge-shaped at base, entire, acute or rounded at apex and tipped 
with a callous point. They come out of the bud conduplicate ; each 
leaf enclosed by the one directly below it, slightly tinged with pink 
and covered with glandular white hairs, when full grown are thick 
and rigid, dark shining green above, pale yellow green beneath; 
midrib broad, yellow, rounded above and below, veins obscure, 
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