Plant of the Day: Plant of the day is: Kalmia latifolia or mountain laurel

Plant of the day is: Kalmia latifolia or mountain laurel

The Ericaceae or heath/heather family is one of my weaker families in terms of plants I can associate. Someone was kind enough to point out today that this plant doesn't grow all that far from here and is certainly worth hunting down on a hike through the forests of the east.

Taxonomy/etc.: As I mentioned it is a member of the Ericaceae family whose members generally prefer acidic soils and/or infertile growing conditions. It is a pretty big family with 151 recognized genera and around somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 species depending on the count of infraspecific names. Infraspecific you ask? Taxonomists love to break down the variations in species even farther with a subspecies, Cannabis sativa subsp. indica would be a great example. Sometimes these divisions are clearly warranted and others I'm sure are just absolute nonsense. But anyways, cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, azalea, and rhododendron are all key members of the family. The family name is earned from the genus Erica.

Description: Leaves are elliptic, alternate, leathery, and dark glossy evergreen above and the bottom of the leaf is a yellow green. Has some truly wonderful flowers that you can find in a variety of colors but generally white to pink. Flowers occur in the spring. Generally grows as a dense rounded shrub somewhere between 1.5 and 4.5 high and wide. In its natural range I'm sure it grows much larger than it would ever get here in Saint Louis. In it's natural range it can reportedly get up to 30 feet tall. I'd love to see one that large in flower...some day. Flowers are corymbs (similar to a panicle but with the lower flowers having longer stems (peduncles)) that are about 15 cm across. Each individual flower is about 2.5 cm across which as I'm sure you all know is about 1".

Range: I really feel lazy on this one and I may just start doing this, because let's face it, it's a MUCH better description than words and all you have to do is click on this: http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=KALA

Culture: Think along the same lines as Azaleas and Rhododendrons, they're pretty close in terms of requirements. They prefer acidic soil of 4.5 to 5.5 (mostly b/c they can't take up Fe at higher pH...ahhhh science), moist soil but soil that is also well drained and not stagnantly wet. Raised beds or hilly areas will help with the growth but do keep in mind they will dry out faster and may require some supplemental water (definitely here in a Saint Louis summer). If growing from seed, it has been found that seed aged 2-4 years old is still 71% viable, so that is a plus. After 8 years it's about 20%. Stratification greatly increases germination, a 40F strat for 8 weeks increases germination % by 40%. Just put em in the fridge for awhile. Here's more info than you ever wanted to know about this plant...

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/kallat/all.html

Fun facts!:

Linnaeus (yeah, THAT Linnaeus) named the genus after Pehr Kalm who sent him samples in the 18th century.
Has been called spoonwood because native Americans used to make spoons out of it.
A very toxic plant, even honey that is made with it is toxic and bitter tasting.
State flower of Connecticut

Want to see one? I'll be trying to verify this but the Missouri Botanical Garden may have one alive in the Rhododendron Garden http://livingcollections.org/mobot/taxon/279967?tab=accessions . Isn't that a great tool? Now you know. Find any plant you want in the garden.

Also, making you lot work for the photos, as it takes some work to do all legal and proper like. Some great thicket like growth on the bottom. Love it.