Kalmia Latifolia. Broad-Leaved Kalmia.

Class and Order:

Decandria Monogynia.

Generic Character:

Calyx 5-partitus. Cor. hypocrateriformis: limbo subtus quinquecorni. Caps. 5-locularis.

Specific Character and Synonyms:

KALMIA latifolia foliis ovato-ellipticis ternis sparsisque, corymbis terminalibus. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. p. 64. ed. 14. Murr. Ait. Hort. Kew. V. 2. p. 64.

ANDROMEDA foliis ovatis obtusis, corollis corymbosis infundibuliformis, genitalibus declinatis. Fl. Virg. 160.

CHAMaeDAPHNE foliis tini, floribus bullatis. Catesb. Car. 11. t. 98.

CISTUS chamaerhododendros Mariana laurifolia, floribus expansis, summo ramulo in umbellam plurimis. Pluk. mant. 49. t. 379. s. 6. The common Laurel,
vulgarly called Ivy.

Professor Kalm (in honour of whom Linnaeus, as before has been observed, named this genus of plants) in his travels into North-America, published in English by Mr. Forster, relates that he found this species in various provinces of that extensive continent, as Pensylvania, New-Jersey, and New-York, growing most commonly on the sides of hills, sometimes in woods; that it flourished most on the northern sides of the hills, especially where they were intersected by rivulets; he observes, that when all the other trees had lost their ornaments, this enlivened the woods by the verdure of its foliage, and that about the month of May, it was covered with a profusion of blossoms of unrivalled beauty.