The Mountain Laurel

Teacher’s Story

S a child I never doubted that the laurel wreaths of Grecian heroes were made from mountain laurel, and I supposed, of course, that the flowers were used also. My vision was of a hero crowned with huge wreaths of laurel bouquets, which I thought so beautiful. It was a shock to exchange this sumptuous headgear of my dreams for a plain wreath of leaves from the green-bay tree.

However, the mountain laurel leaf is evergreen and beautiful enough to crown a victor; in color it is a rich, lustrous green above, with a yellow midrib, the lower side being of a much lighter color. In shape, the leaf is long, narrow, pointed at each end and smooth-edged, with a rather short petiole. The leaves each year grow on the new wood, which is greenish and rough, in contrast with the old wood, which is rich brownish red. The leaves are arranged below the flower cluster, so that they make a shining green base for this natural bouquet.

The flowers grow on the tips of the branching twigs, which are huddled together in a manner that brings into a mass many flowers. I have counted seventy-five of them in a single bunch; the youngest flowers grow nearest the tip of the twig. The blossom stems are pink, and afford a rich background for the starry open flowers and knobby closed buds. The bud of the laurel blossom is very pretty and resembles a bit of rose-colored pottery; it has a five-sided, pyramidal top, and at the base of the pyramid are ten little buttresses which flare out from the calyx. The calyx is five-lobed, each lobe being green at the base and pink at the point. Each one of the ten little buttresses or ridges is a groove in which a stamen is growing, as we may see by looking into an opening flower; each anther is “headed” toward the pocket which ends the groove. The filament lengthens and shoves the anther into the pocket, and then keeps on growing until it forms a bow-shaped spring, like a sapling with the top bent to the ground. The opening flower is saucerlike, pinkish white, and in form is a five-pointed star. At the bottom of the saucer a ten-pointed star is outlined in crimson; and bowed above this crimson ring are the ten white filaments with their red-brown anthers stuffed cozily into the pockets, one pocket at the center of each lobe, and one half-way between; each pocket is marked with a splash of crimson with spotty edges. From the center of the flower projects the stigma, far from and above the pollen-pockets.

Each laurel flower is thus set with ten spring-traps all awaiting the visit of the unwary moth or bee which, when seeking the nectar at the center of the flower, is sure to touch one or all of these bent filaments. As soon as one is touched, up it springs and slings its pollen hard at the intruder. The pollen is not simply a shower of powder, but is in the form of a sticky string, as if the grains were strung on cobweb silk. When liberating these springs with a pencil point, I have seen the pollen thrown a distance of thirteen inches; thus, if the pollen ammunition does not strike the bee, it may fall upon some open flower in the neighborhood. The anthers spring back after this performance and the filaments curl over each other at the center of the flower below the pink stigma; but after a few hours they straighten out and each empty anther is suspended above its own pocket. The anthers open while in the pocket, each one is slit open at its tip so that it is like the leather pocket of a sling.

After the corollas fall, the long stigma still projects from the tip of the ripening ovary, and there it stays, until the capsule is ripe and open. The five-pointed calyx remains as an ornamental cup for the fruit. The capsule opens along five valves, and each section is stuffed with little, almost globular seeds.

The mountain laurel grows in woods and shows a preference for rocky mountain sides or sandy soil.

Another of the common species is the sheep laurel, which grows in swampy places, especially on hillsides. The flowers of this are smaller and pinker than the mountain laurel, and are set below the leaves on the twig. Another species called the pale, or swamp, laurel, has very small flowers, not more than half an inch in breadth and its leaves have rolled-back edges and are whitish green beneath. This species is found only in cold peat-bogs and swamps.