RHODODENDRON 
brushes against the filaments, which fly up and scatter their 
pollen over his body. He leaves on the stigma of the next 
flower he visits the pollen he has gathered in the first, and 
so on he goes from flower to flower. He probably thinks 
that gathering honey is his business, but as a matter of fact 
it isa very small part of his duties in the economy of nature. 
The Mountain Laurel is one of the most satisfactory 
shrubs for lawn or garden, When in full bloom it is of sur- 
passing beauty, and its bright evergreen leaves make it con- 
spicuous at any time. These leaves are believed to be poi- 
sonous to cattle, and the species, Aalmia angustifolia, a low 
shrub in pastures, is popularly called Lambkill; but the 
probability is that its noxious qualities have been overrated. 
The best observers are inclined to refer what deleterious 
qualities there may be to the coarse, resinous character of 
the leaves which make them indigestible than to any positive 
noxious principle contained in them. 
RHODODENDRON. GREAT LAUREL. ROSE BAY 
Rhododéndren maéximum. 
In the north a shrub with many divergent stems and contorted 
branches, ten or twelve feet tall. Roots fibrous. Distributed from 
Nova Scotia to shores of Lake Erie and southward to northern Geor- 
gia. Common on the mountains of New York, it becomes abundant 
in Virginia, and on the high lands of Tennessee and the Carolinas it 
forms dense thickets hundreds of acres in extent. Flourishes in all 
soils except those containing lime. 
Bark.—Reddish brown, scaly. Branchlets at first green, covered 
with red or rusty tomentum, later become reddish brown or gray 
tinged with red. 
Wood.—Light brown; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr., 
0.6303 ; weight of cu. ft., 39.28 Ibs. 
Winter Buds.—Leaf buds clearly seen in midsummer, conical, 
dark green, axillary or terminal, on barren shoots covered with 
closely imbricated scales. Outer scales persist until shoot is half 
grown; inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot and are carried 
up with it. Flower-buds are full grown by September, terminal, 
cone-like, an inch and a half long, covered with many imbricated 
bracts which contract at the apex into long slender points. 
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