Kalmia

These showy species have the largest (and most open, saucer-shaped) flowers of any of our native Ericaceae. The corolla (except in "albinos") is pink, and as it opens each anther is held in a little pocket (visible externally on the buds). The filament is therefore arched backward, under tension. When a visiting insect trips the filament, the anther springs loose from its pocket and the insect receives a shower of pollen.

 

1. Leaves mostly in whorls of 3, distinctly petioled, green beneath; inflorescences axillary, the branches terminating in leafy shoots; calyx and pedicels glandular.

K. angustifolia

1. Leaves opposite, sessile or subsessile, strongly whitened (by dense minute puberulence) beneath; inflorescences terminal; calyx and pedicels eglandular.

K. polifolia

Loading species in Kalmia...

Citation:
MICHIGAN FLORA ONLINE. A. A. Reznicek, E. G. Voss, & B. S. Walters. February 2011. University of Michigan. Web. April 1, 2025
https://mifloradev.lsa.umich.edu/flora-demo/#/genus/Kalmia