There are several kinds of Kalmia, almost all of eastern North America,
the flowers alike in form.
[Sidenote: =Swamp Laurel=
_Kálmia microphýlla (K. glauca var. microphylla)_
=Pink
Summer
Northwest, etc.=]
A very pretty little evergreen shrub, from a few inches to over a
foot high, with glossy, leathery, rich-green leaves, whitish on the
under side, with the margins rolled back. The flowers are single or
in clusters, each about half an inch across, with five sepals and a
bright purplish-pink, saucer-shaped corolla, with five lobes, which
is prettily symmetrical and intricate in form. There are ten little
pouches below the border and in these the tips of the ten anthers are
caught, so that the filaments curve over from the center, and at the
touch of a visiting insect they spring out of the pouches and dust the
visitor's back with pollen, which is carried to another flower. The
little, pointed buds, angled and deep in color, are also pretty and
the capsule is roundish, with many small seeds. This grows in northern
swamps, across the continent.
There are several kinds of Menziesia, some Japanese; branching shrubs,
with alternate, deciduous, toothless leaves, and small, nodding
flowers, in clusters, developing from scaly buds, their parts almost
always in fours; stamens eight, not protruding; capsule more or less
egg-shaped.
[Sidenote: =Fool's Huckleberry=
_Menzièsia urcelolària (M. ferruginea)_
=Yellowish, reddish
Summer
Northwest=]
A rather attractive little bush, from two to six feet high, with light
brown bark, hairy twigs and slightly hairy leaves, with hairy margins.
The flowers are less than half an inch long, with a hairy calyx and
dull cream-colored corolla, tinged with dull-pink or red, and hang
prettily in a circle, on drooping pedicels, which become erect as the
capsules ripen. When crushed, the stems and foliage have a strong
skunk-like smell.
There are only a few kinds of Ledum, all much alike.
[Sidenote: =Woolly Labrador Tea=
_Lèdum Groenlándicum_
=White
Spring, summer
Northwest, etc.=]
A loosely-branching, evergreen shrub, from one to four feet high. The
bark is reddish and the twigs are covered with reddish wool, the color
of iron rust, and the leathery, dark green leaves, which are alternate,
with rolled-back margins, are also covered with reddish wool on the
under side. The flowers are a good deal less than half an inch across,
with five, very small sepals; five, spreading, white petals; a green
ovary, and from five to seven, long, conspicuous stamens, giving
a feathery appearance to the pretty flower-clusters, which before
blooming are enclosed in large, scaly buds. Both foliage and flowers
are aromatic. This is found across the continent, as far south as
Pennsylvania, and in Greenland. _L. glandulòsum_ is similar, but not
woolly. These plants grow in swamps and damp places and are considered
poisonous.
[Illustration: Fool's Huckleberry--Menziesia urcelolaria.
Swamp Laurel--Kalmia microphylla.