Kalmia angustifolia
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Kalmia angustifolia' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Sheep Laurel
An evergreen shrub, varying considerably in height and habit. The largest form is 2 to 4 ft high, and of thin, open growth, the smallest a dwarf, tufted plant 6 in. or so high; young wood slightly downy. Leaves in pairs or in threes, oval or ovate, 3⁄4 to 2 in. long, 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 in. wide, glabrous and bright green above, paler or semi-glaucous beneath; stalk 1⁄6 to 1⁄3 in. long. Flowers produced in June, densely packed in rounded clusters 2 in. across at the termination of the previous year’s growth. Corolla saucer-shaped, 1⁄3 in. across, deep rosy-red; lobes five, shallowly triangular. Calyx and flower-stalks downy and glandular. Bot. Mag., t. 331
Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1736. It spreads by sucker growths at the base, and the dwarfer forms are dainty shrubs. Propagated by seed or by pulling old plants apart in spring.
'Candida'
Synonyms / alternative names
Kalmia angustifolia f. candida Fernald
Flowers white.
'Ovata'
Synonyms / alternative names
Kalmia angustifolia var. ovata Pursh
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean as Kalmia angustifolia var. ovata, since referred to subsp. angustifolia.
Leaves ovate, broader.
'Rubra'
Synonyms / alternative names
Kalmia angustifolia f. rubra (G.Lodd.) Zabel
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean as Kalmia angustifolia f. rubra, since referred to subsp. angustifolia.
Flowers deeper red.
subsp. carolina (Small) A.Haines
Synonyms
Kalmia angustifolia var. carolina (Small) Fernald
Leaves coated beneath with a fine, greyish, velvety down. Calyx not glandular. Introduced 1906. It may also be in cultivation from seeds collected in 1933 by the New York Botanic Garden Expedition to the Appalachians, under No. 63. These came from Flat Rock, N. Carolina, which is the type-locality of the species, and the plants were described in the field notes as 2 ft high, with bluish foliage and flowers rather larger than in those of K. angustifolia, and of clearer pink.