22 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



American laurel, wicky, rose laurel, etc. The Pennsylvania moun- 

 tain laurel & {Rhododendron maximum) is a closely allied species, 

 while in California the name mountain laurel is applied to Oreo- 

 daphne calif omicaf a member of the family of Lauracea?. 



Mountain laurel usually occurs as a shrub, growing from 5 to 15 

 feet high, but in the Blue Eidge Mountains of North Carolina it has 

 been seen reaching to a height of 25 or 30 feet. * 



The species extends from New Brunswick and Canada to Florida, x 

 and through the Gulf States to Louisiana and Arkansas, but is espe- 

 cially abundant through the Eastern States along the Allegheny 

 Mountains, where it forms dense, impenetrable thickets. 6 In spite 

 of the name " mountain laurel n it grows on hills and banks in the 

 lowlands, but especially along the courses of streams. The leaves 

 are of a tough, leathery consistency and are evergreen. The flowers, 

 which are nearly destitute of odor, have a peculiar arrangement of 

 their stamens, which bend over with their brown anthers projecting 

 into pockets in the corolla/ so that when this flower is visited by a 

 bee they fly back, scattering the pollen over its own stigma, and also 

 over the insect, which then carries it to other flowers, securing cross 

 pollination. The flowers have a waxlike appearance and vary from 

 a white to a rose color. The wood of the mountain laurel is close 

 grained and hard and is $ substitute for boxwood, and it may be used 

 for making handles of small tools, etc 5. The powder covering the 

 leaves has been used as a snuff. 7 ' The laurel leaves have been utilized 

 ever since the time of the colonists as one of the evergreens for 

 Christmas decorations.' 



a Coulter, S., 1. c, p. 607. 



6 Marshall, H. Arbust. Amer., p. 127, 1785. 



c Reports of Explorations and Surveys * * for a Railroad from the 'Mis- 

 sissippi River to the Pacific Ocean, 1S53-54. Senate Doc, 2d Sess.-, 33d Cong., 

 vol. 13, pt. 4, p. 133, 1S56. 



d Aaron, C. E. Our Common Poisonous Plants. Cram's Magazine, 1900, vol. 2, 

 p. 502. 



e Sargent, C. S. Report on the Forests of North America, 10th Census, p. 98, 

 1884. 



f The details as to the historical structure of this plant will be found in the 

 following works : 



Paschkis, H. Contributions to a Closer Knowledge of Some Little-Known 

 Leaves. Pharm. Jour, and Trans., 3d ser., vol. 12, p. 86, 1SS1-S2. Also Zeits. 

 d. allg. oest. Apoth.-vereines. vol. 18, p. 434, 1SS0. 



Breitfeld, A. Der anatom. Bau d. Blatter der Rhododendroidea? in Bezie- 

 hung zu ihrer systeinatischen Gruppirung und zur geographischen Verbreitung. 

 Botan. Jahrb.. vol. 9, p. 319. 1SS7-88. 



Vesque, Julien. Caracteres des Principales Families Gamopetales Tires de 

 l'Anatomie de la Feuille. Ann. des Sci. Naturel. Botan., 7th ser., vol. 1, p. 240, 

 1885. 



Solereder, Hans. System. Anatom. d. Dicotyledonen, 1899, p. 541-551. 



9 Emerson, G. B. Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts, vol. 2, p. 445, 1875. 



71 Browne, D. J. Trees of America, p. 364. 



* Kalm, P., 1. c, p. 264. 

 121—n 





