PLANTS GROWING IN RICH OR ROCKY SOIL. 163 
sheep fall victims annually to eating the shrub, Unprincipled 
people have also made use of the leaves to increase the in- 
toxicating effect of liquors, 
Long ago the red man knew of this poison. It was dear to 
him. For when he became unhappy, it lulled him into the long 
sleep, and hastened his footsteps to his happy hunting ground. 
SHEEP LAUREL. LASIBKILL. WICKY. (Plate LXXX/J/V.) 
(almia angustifolia. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
fleath. Rich, deep, pinkish Scentless. Newfoundland to Sune. 
crimson, Georgia. 
Flowers: axillary; clustered in corymbs. Calyx: of five sepals. Corolla: 
not quite half an inch broad, with five lobes. Stamens: ten; the anthers 
dark-coloured and nestling in the pouches. /7st//: one. Leaves : narrow; in 
whorls of three; pale. A shrub growing about a foot high. 
Such a wealth of witchery clusters about lambkill that we are 
very, very lenient to its failings and almost prone to forgive 
them altogether. It is, unhappily, the most poisonous of the 
laurels, and exercises this power over poor, dumb animals, 
which, to say the least, is not very sportsmanlike of lambkill. 
But, on the other side, it is most stupid of the brute world to 
attempt to feast upon this lovely shrub when it is so evidently 
intended to please another sense ; fora hillside, or low ground, 
that is covered with it, is about as fair a sight as can be seen. 
GREAT RHODODENDRON. ASIERICAN ROSE=-BAY. 
GREAT LAUREL. (Plate LXXXV.) 
Rhododéndron maximum. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Heath. White, spotted with Scentless. New York to Georgia. July. 
red and yellow. 
Flowers : clustered together in great bunches; the flower-stalks clammy. 
Calyx : of five very short, cleft sepals. Coro//a : tubular ; almost bell-shaped ; five 
parted and greenish in the throat. Stamens: ten. stil: one with a red 
stigma, Fruit: a pod with small seeds. Leaves : broadly elliptical ; entire ; gla- 
brous ; evergreen; in texture like leather. Stem: six to twenty feet high; 
woody ; fibrous; leafy. 
To come upon one of the haunts of the great laurel in the 
moist shady woods of summer, is to get an inspiration that can 
be recalled with pleasure during the whole lifetime, For the 
