Sheep laurel
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Kalmia angustifolia L.
Common name(s): sheep laurel, American sheep-laurel, lambkill, lambkill kalmia, wicky
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile , NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- pre-flower, mid-May
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- Crop field, June
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- pre-flower, crop field
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- pre-flower detail
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- early bloom, June
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- in flower, late June
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- mowed in prune field, July
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- November
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- fruit, November
Description:
– perennial shrub
– generally flowers May to July in ME
-Short, erect, woody shrub
-grows up to 3′ tall
-Persistent leaves in whorls of three
- oblong
- dark green above
- light green below and waxy
- 1″-2.5″ long 1/4″-7/8″ wide
- turn brownish in fall
-Flowers crimson 1/4″-1/2″ wide, set in a cluster 3/4 up the stem.
Habitat:
-bogs
-forests
-ledges
-woodlands
-rocky slopes
Source(s):
Hansen, R.W., S.B. Hansen and E.A. Osgood. 1991. Reproductive phenologies of selected flowering plants in eastern Maine forests. ME Agric. Exp. Station Tech. Bull. 143. 17 pp.
Heinrich, B. 1976. Flowering phenologies: Bog, woodland, and disturbed habitats. Ecology. 57(5):890-899.
Go Botany. “Kalmia Angustifolia L.” Kalmia Angustifolia (Sheep American-Laurel, Sheep-Laurel): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/kalmia/angustifolia/.