Kalmia angustifolia (Linnaeus)

Common Names of K. angustifolia:

sheep laurel (most common)
lamb-kill
sheepkill
wicky
narrow-leaved kalmia
dwarf laurel
pig laurel


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Higher Taxa

(Mabberley, 1996)

Class:Dicodonlidinae

Subclass:Dilleniidae

Order:Ericales

Family:Ericaceae

Tribe:Rhododendreae(Jaynes,1997)

Genus:Kalmia

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Identification

K. angustifolia was classified into to species, angustifolia and caroliniana until 1914, at which point most botanist began treating sheep laurel as one species with two varieties.(Jaynes 1997)

The most common variety occurring in the Southeast is K. caroliniana which is describe as follows.
(Jaynes 1997)

K. angustifolia var. carolinianaSouthern Sheep Laurel

"Rhizomatous shrub 1-1.5 m. tall with carescent, often stipitate-glandular twigs, glabrate in age. Leaves coriaceous, evergreen, in whorls of 3 or on exceptional branches alternate or opposite, histrous or dull, often glaucous puberulent or stipate-glandular beneath or mixture of both, elleptic to elliptic larceolate, 2.5-7 cm. long, 0.7-2.5 cm. wide, obtuse, base obtuse to cuneate; petioles 4-12 mm. long. Inflourescence simple corymbs in the axils of the leaves of the prceding year; pedicels puberulent and stipitate-glandular, 1.5-2 mm. long, abrubtly contracted to obtuse or acute apices; corolla reddish pink to rarely white with a ring of reddish spots below the anther pockets, pubescent on the outside, 1-1.5 cm. broad; style 5-6 mm. long. Capsule puberulent and stipitate-glandular, broader than long, 3-4 mm. broad, pendulous on spreading, ascending pedicles. Seeds 0.5-0.8 mm long. April-early June and sporadically in late autumn; Sept-Oct. Rocky woodlands or bogs in the mountains, sandy woodlands; pocosins, cavannahs or bogs in CP."(cited from Ahles, Radford & Bell, 1974)


K. angustifolia var. angustifoliaNorthern Sheep Laurel
"The two varieties are similar in habit and general appearance but are easily distingueshed by differences in leaf and calyx pubescence. In the northern sheep laurel the calyx is densly glandular pubescent (small hairs), and the leaves are glabrous (hairless). The southern sheep laurel has no glandular hairs on the calyx, and the leaves are densly pubescent beneath with a mat of extremely short hairs." (cited from Jaynes 1997)