K A L 
KALM, a mountain of Dalmatia : twelve miles north 
ofRagufa. 
KALM (Peter), a traveller and naturalift, was a na¬ 
tive of Sweden, and was educated for the ecclefiaftical pro- 
feffion. The lectures of Linnaeus at the univerfity of Up- 
fal, however, gave him an attachment to natural hillory ; 
and in travels through different provinces of Sweden, from 
1740 to 1745, he had difcovered feveral new fpecies of 
plants, and diftinguifhed himfelf as a minute and accurate 
obferver. When a propofal was made by Linnaeus, in 
1745, to fend a perfon on a naturalift’s tour to North Ame¬ 
rica, Kalm, then profefl'or of economy in the univerfity of 
Abo, was fixed upon ; and after a fund had been railed, 
by the contributions of various public bodies, for defray¬ 
ing his expences, he embarked at Gothenburg in the clofe 
of 1747. He landed firft in England, where he remained 
till Auguft 1748, making obfervations in agriculture and 
natural hiftory. He failed for Philadelphia in that month, 
and employed the remainder of that year, and the years 
T749 and 1750, in travels through the provinces of Penn¬ 
fylvania, New Jerfey, New York, and Canada, with the 
diftrifts inhabited by the Iroquois, and other Indian tribes. 
He left America in the beginning of 1751, and reached his 
native country in the courfe of the fummer. The refult 
of thefe travels was given to the public in the Swedilh lan¬ 
guage, in three vols. 8vo. 1753-61. which were tranflated 
tirlt into German, and then into Englifh, by J. Reinhold 
Forfter, in 1770. Like moft of his travelling countrymen, 
Kalm is a dry and accurate defcriber of every thing new 
to him, whether important or trifling, with equal niinute- 
nefs. Utility, however, feems to have been his leading 
objetl ; and he brought back fome valuable information to 
his countrymen, and was the introducer of fome new fub- 
jetls of culture adapted to northern climates. He after¬ 
wards returned to Abo, where he was made profefl'or of 
natural hillory, and publifhed a great many detached dif- 
fertations in the Swedifh and Latin languages, on econo¬ 
mical and botanical topics. He made, at his own expence, 
an extenfive tour into Ruflia, which has not been publifh¬ 
ed, though a Swedifh writer lias been fuppofed to have 
taken much from the manufcript. He died at Abo in 
a 790. Stoever's Life of Linnaus. 
KAL'MIA, f. [fo named by Linnaeus in honour of the 
fubjeft of the preceding article.] Dwarf American 
Laurel ; in botany, a genus of the clafs decandria, order 
monogynia, natural order of bicornes, (l hododendra, JuJf.) 
The generic characters are—Calyx : perianthium rive- 
parted, fmall, permanent; fegments fubovate, acute, ra¬ 
ther columnar. Corolla : one-petalled, falver-funnel- 
form ; tube cylindric, longer than the calyx ; border with 
a flat difk; the margin upright, half five-cleft; ten nec¬ 
tariferous hornlets projecting outwardly from the corolla, 
and furrounding it where the border of it is upright. Sta¬ 
mina: filaments ten, awl-fhaped, upright-fpreading, ra¬ 
ther fhorter than the corolla, inferted into the bale of the 
corolla ; anthers Ample. Pillillum: germ roundifh ; ftyle 
thread-form, longer than the corolla, bent down ; ftigma 
obtufe. Pericarpium: capfule fubglobofe, deprefl&d, five- 
celled, five-valved, five-partile. Seeds-, numerous. The 
horned neCtaries projecting outwardly from the corolla, 
and furrounding it, abundantly diftinguifh this genus from 
the bicornes. Adanfon and Gsertner refer, this genus to 
Rhododendron, as too artificial .—EJfeniial CharaBer. Ca¬ 
lyx five-parted; corolla falver-form ; with the border five- 
horned beneath ; capfule five-celled. 
Species. 1. Kalmia latifolia, or broad-leaved kalmia : 
leaves ovate, elliptic, by threes and fcattered ; corymbs ter¬ 
minating. Broad-leaved kalmia rifes with a branching italk 
to the height often or twelve feet; with very ftiff leaves, 
which are two inches long and one broad, of a lucid green 
on their upper fide, hut of a pale green on their under ; they 
have fhort footftalks, and ftand without order round the 
branches ; between thefe the buds are formed for the next 
year’s flowers, at the extremity of the branches ; thefe buds 
swell during the autunyi and fpring months, yilj the be- 
Vol. XI. No. 778, 
K A L 'fm 
ginning of June, when the flowers burft out from# their 
empalements, forming a round bunch, or corymbus, fit¬ 
ting very clofe to the branch ; they are of a pale blulh-co 
lour, the outiide of the petal of a peach-colour. The co¬ 
rolla is cut into five roundifh fegments, ftudded with pur- 
pie fpots, which are prominent; the germ becomes an oval 
capfule, crowned by the ftyle. This fhrub in its native 
•foil continues flowering moft part of the fummer, and is 
one of the greatest ornaments to the country: but it is 
not fo well naturalized to our climate as could be wiflied, 
though the plants are not injured by the cold. In North 
America this flirub fends out plenty of fuckers from the 
roots, fo that it forms almoft impaflable thickets ; but in 
England it has not generally produced fuckers, nor do the 
feeds come to maturity. At Whitton, however, where 
the plants flood unremoved a confiderable time, they put 
out fuckers in plenty. 
According to Catefby, this evergreen fhrub rifes ufu- 
ally to the height of five or fix feet, but fometimes to twice 
that height ; the Hems of fome are as big as the fmall of 
a man’s leg, though generally they are fmaller; they are 
covered with a rough brown bark; the wood is very clofe - 
grained, heavy, and hard, like box ; the limbs in genera! 
are crooked, and grow irregular, but are thick clothed with 
ftiff fmootli leaves, of a fhining bright green. The flowers 
grow in bunches on the tops of the branches, on pedun¬ 
cles of three inches in length ; they are white llained with 
purplifh red. This fhrub is a native of Carolina, Virginia, 
and other parts of North America ; as Pennfylvania, New 
Jerfey, and New York ; but only in particular places; on 
rocks, hanging over rivulets, and on the Tides of barren 
hills on the moll fterile foil. The noxious qualities of this 
elegant flirub leflen that elteem which its beauty claims ; 
for, though deer feed on its green leaves with impunity, 
yet, when cattle and fheep, by fevere winters deprived of 
better feed, eat the leaves, many die annually. It blof- 
foms in May, and continues in flower a great part cf the 
fummer. The wood, being very hard, is very ufeful in 
fmaller works. The Indians are faid to make fmall difhes, 
fpoons, and other domeflic uteniils, out of the roots ; 
thefe are large, of a foft texture, and eafily wrought when 
green ; but when dry become hard and fmooth. After 
feveral unfuccefsful attempts to propagate it by feeds, 
Catefby procured plants of it at feveral times from Ame¬ 
rica, but with little better fuccefs, till Mr. Peter Collin- 
fon procured fome plants of it from Pennfylvania, which 
climate being nearer to that of England, fome bunches of 
bloffoms were produced, in July 1740 and 1741, in Mr. 
Catefby’s garden at Fulham. From his work the annexed 
figure is taken. According to the Kew Catalogue, it was 
introduced by Mr. Peter Collinfon in i 734. 
2. Kalmia anguftifplia, or narrow-leaved kalmia : leaves 
lanceolate ; corymbs lateral. From three to fix feet high, 
dividing into fmall woody branches, which are very clofe, 
and covered with a dark-grey bark. Leaves ftiff, about 
two inches long, and half an inch broad, of a lucid green, 
laced without order upon the branches, on (lender foof- 
alks. Flowers in loofe bunches on the fide of til’s 
branches, upon flender peduncles; they are bright red 
when they firft open, but afterwards fade to a blufh or 
peach-bloom colour. Capfuleroundilh, comprelfed, crown, 
ed by the ftyle ; and filled with fmall, roundiih, feeds, la 
the Amcenitates, it is faid to be a fhrub half a foot in 
height, the thicknefs of a finger.. Leaves lanceolate or lan¬ 
ceolate-ovate, only half the breadth of the preceding; 
and of lei's fubftance. Flowers in lateral or axillary co¬ 
rymbs, not terminating, as thofe of the preceding are; 
fmaller, and deeper coloured. The corolla of this flower 
is fhown on the Botany Plate VIII. fig. 15. vol. iii. The 
varieties, with pale and deep-red flowers^differ in their ha¬ 
bit ; the latter, the moft humble of the two, not only pro¬ 
duces the moft brilliant flowers, but in greater abundance. 
This alfo is reputed poifonous to fheep and cr." tie in North 
America, of which it is a native. Introduced in 1736 by 
Mr. Collinfon j Catelby fays it floweredat Peck ham in 174.3; 
-7 L 3. Kalinia 
