MOUNTAIN-LAUREL 
Kalmia latifolia Linnaeus 
Mountain-lautel is a joy to the flower lover, not only when its 
beautiful blooms are plentiful in late spring, but also during the 
other months of the year, when its glossy evergreen leaves lend 
themselves so readily to the decoration of our homes. The intricate 
structure of the flowers is very cutious. Each anther is tucked into 
a pocket on the inside of the corolla. When a bee probes the nec- 
taries at the base of the flower tube the anthers are released and 
spring upward, emptying their pollen pouches upon the bee, which 
carries the pollen to the stigma of the next flower visited, thus 
effecting cross-pollination. The flower stalks are hairy and sticky and 
consequently entrap many ants and other small insects which are 
not useful in pollination. Honey made from mountain-laurel nectar 
is poisonous, and the leaves are deadly to stock. The heavy, hard, 
and tough wood is in demand for the manufacture of small articles. 
Mountain-laurel prefers sandy or rocky, acid soil. It frequently 
forms densely interlaced thickets and sometimes gtows toa height 
of twenty feet. Rarely it is a tree as high as forty feet, with a trunk 
diameter of eighteen inches. Mountain-laurel was taken to Europe 
about 1750 by Peter Kalm, the Swedish explorer. He was a friend 
of Linnaeus, who gave the shrub the name Ka/méa in his honor. It 
is the State flower of Connecticut. 
Mountain-laurel extends from Florida to Louisiana, western Ken- 
tucky, and Indiana, and northward to Ontario and New Brunswick. 
The sketch was made from a specimen obtained neat Washing- 
ton, District of Columbia. 
PLATE 221 
