Boxwood Kalmia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Box-leaved Kalmia (lat. Kalmia buxifolia) - an evergreen shrub that loves to mislead botanists and people far from science, with its great variability in the natural conditions of the wild. Although botanists tried to separate this species into an independent genus, the plant's genetic data indicate that it belongs to the Kalmia genus, which belongs to the Heather family (Latin Ericaceae). The plant is distinguished by its small height, but wide branching; leathery leaves and dense clusters of pinkish-white or pink small flowers.

What's in your name

The plants owe the Latin name of the genus, Kalmia, to Karl Linnaeus, who decided to perpetuate the name of the botanist (Per Kalm), who was his student and companion in the study of the flora of our planet. Per Kalm, from his trip to distant overseas America, brought to Europe many exotic plants, among which were those that are attributed to the genus Calmia. He gave them a chance to settle down on European soil, and they successfully used this chance.

Before molecular and morphological studies, which became possible only in the late XX - early XXI centuries, this plant was included in the classifier under the name "Leiophyllum buxifolium". Based on the results of such studies, the plant was reclassified into the genus Kalmiya. Although, as old fans of the plant believe, it has absolutely no resemblance to other plants of the Kalmia genus, except for the poisonous nature of all parts of the plant.

The photo below shows a species of box-leaved Kalmia, which features tiny white flowers at the top of a branch covered with juicy small leaves:

The specific name of the plant, by adding the adjective "buxifolia" ("box-leaved"), specifies the shape of the leaves of the box-leaved Kalmia. Although in the wild, this species of the Kalmiya genus loves to change its appearance, often misleading not only ordinary lovers of the flower kingdom, but also people who are closely involved in the study and classification of representatives of the plant world.

The variety of plant appearance gives rise to many names that differ from Latin. For example, the common common name "Sandy myrtle" ("sandmyrtle"), or, "Ledum buxifolium" (Latin "Ledum buxifolium"), apparently because of the external similarity with plants of the genus Ledum of the same Heather family.

Description

An evergreen perennial shrub of short stature (from 10 to 100 cm) widely spreads its slender, slender stems. Slightly cylindrical branches of the shrub can be bare or covered with sparse hairs.

The leathery, shiny, dark green leaves that cover the stems during the warm season turn bronze during the cold winter. They can be located in different ways on the stem, including, they can be alternate or opposite. Leaves can be attached with short (from 0, 1 to 2 mm) petioles, or be petiolate. Narrow-lanceolate leaf plates are ovoid or oval in shape.

From pink flower buds in mid-spring, corymbose or umbellate inflorescences are born, collected from white or light pink flowers with green lanceolate sepals. One inflorescence has up to 18 flowers.

The crown of the vegetative cycle is the naked fruit in the form of a capsule or capsule with two, three or five nests. The elongated wingless seeds are located in the nests, waiting for their turn for reproduction on the planet Kalmiya box-leaved.

This species of the genus Kalmia grows in nature on sandy soils among oaks and pines, and can also be found on rocky peaks.

All parts of the plant, like other plants of the genus Calmia,

are toxic, and therefore you should resort to protective equipment when working with boxwood Kalmia.