Native Americans - Garden Plants – Kalmia

Name - Kalmia is named after the Finnish botanist Pehr Kalm, who collected it in eastern North America – he was surprisingly long lived for a botanist managing to hang on from 1716 to 1779 and was also an explorer, naturalist, agricultural economist and one of Linnaeus's keenest students. Among his many accomplishments, Kalm was the first scientist to write a description of Niagara Falls. It’s commonly known as lambkill, sheep-laurel, lamb-kill, calf-kill, kill-kid, and sheep-poison for reasons that will become clear.

Description - The leaves are 2-12 cm long, and oval. The flowers are white, pink or purple, in corymbs of ten to fifty, which means they resemble Rhododendrons but have a flatter profile.

Origins - Kalmia is a genus of about seven species of evergreen shrubs and are actually part of the heather family. They are native to North America and Cuba where they grow in acidic soils, with different species preferring wet acid bog habitats (K. angustifolia, K. polifolia) to those that thrive in dry, sandy soils (K. ericoides, K. latifolia). The foliage is toxic if eaten, with sheep being particularly prone to poisoning, hence the common names. Oddly though, it has the recorded common name of spoon-wood because Kalm was told by Dutch settlers of North America that Native Americans made spoons from the wood. Given its toxicity to humans as well as livestock, we must view this as folklore rather than scientific fact. Kalmias are popular garden shrubs, grown for their decorative flowers but they should not be planted where they are accessible to livestock, including rabbits! For growth in the UK, a lightly shaded position is best, or at least one protected from the hottest sun, and they appreciate additional water during dry periods. Little pruning is necessary apart from the removal of spent flower clusters to encourage more buds.

America Kalmia photograph by tanakawho, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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