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Kalmia
Also called Lambkill, Spoonwood, Mountain Laurels, Sheepkills
Kalmia is a genus of about ten species of evergreen shrubs from 0.2–5 m tall, in the family Ericaceae (heath). They are native to North America (mainly in the eastern half of the continent) and Cuba. They grow in acidic soils, with different species in wet acid bog habitats (K. angustifolia, K. polifolia) and dry, sandy soils (K. ericoides, K. latifolia).
Kalmia was named by Linnaeus to honour his friend the botanist Pehr Kalm, who collected it in eastern North America during the mid-18th century. Earlier, Mark Catesby saw it during his travels in Carolina, and after his return to England in 1726, imported seeds.
Sheep laurel · Sand Myrtle · Whitewicky · Hairy laurel · Mountain laurel · Alpine laurel · Bog laurel · Trailing Azalea
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Kalmia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
