PLATE LXV
PINK AZALEA.—R. nudiflorum.
In the last century the name of Mayflower was given to the shrub by the Swedes in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. Peter Kalm, the pupil of Linnæus, after whom our laurel, Kalmia, is named, writes the following description of the shrub in his “Travels,” which were published in English in 1771, and which explain the origin of one of its titles: “Some of the Swedes and Dutch call them Pinxter-bloem (Whitsunday-flower) as they really are in bloom about Whitsuntide; and at a distance they have some similarity to the Honeysuckle or ‘Lonicera.’... Its flowers were now open and added a new ornament to the woods.... They sit in a circle round the stem’s extremity and have either a dark red or a lively red color; but by standing for some time the sun bleaches them, and at last they get to a whitish hue.... They have some smell, but I cannot say it is very pleasant. However, the beauty of the flower entitles them to a place in every flower-garden.” While our pink azalea could hardly be called “dark red” under any circumstances, it varies greatly in the color of its flowers.
The azalea is the national flower of Flanders.
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Rhododendron Rhodora. Heath Family.
A shrub from one to two feet high. Leaves.—Oblong, pale. Flowers.—Purplish-pink. Calyx.—Small. Corolla.—Two-lipped, almost without any tube. Stamens.—Ten, not protruding. Pistil.—One, not protruding.
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.