kalmia

American  

[kal-mee-uh] / ˈkæl mi ə /

noun

1. any North American evergreen shrub belonging to the genus Kalmia, of the heath family, having showy flowers, as the mountain laurel.

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kalmia British  

/ ˈkælmɪə /

noun

1. any evergreen ericaceous shrub of the North American genus Kalmia, having showy clusters of white or pink flowers See also mountain laurel

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Etymology

Origin of kalmia

< New Latin (Linnaeus), after Peter Kalm (1715–79), Swedish botanist; see -ia

Example Sentences

They form delightfully smooth, level sods in which one finds two or three species of gentian and as many of purple and yellow orthocarpus, violet, vaccinium, kalmia, bryanthus, and lonicera.

From My First Summer in the Sierra by Muir, John

He replied, 'Madam, the kalmia has precisely the colours of a seraph's wing.'

From Evolution, Old & New Or, the Theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, as compared with that of Charles Darwin by Butler, Samuel

I expressed my surprise that the leaves of the mountain laurel, the kalmia latifolia, which are so deadly to sheep, should be the winter food of the deer.

From Letters of a Traveller Notes of Things Seen in Europe and America by Bryant, William Cullen

To the left, covering the mountain-side, were masses of evergreen kalmia, and above them tall and leafless trees in whose branches the wind made a grating sound.

From The Long Roll by Johnston, Mary

I observed, in the crop of one of the pheasants, some bright green leaves, and some buds, which I suspected to be the leaves and buds of the kalmia latifolia, a poisonous shrub.

From Tales and Novels — Volume 02 by Edgeworth, Maria