mountain laurel

noun

1. a North American laurel, Kalmia latifolia, having terminal clusters of rose to white flowers: the state flower of Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

mountain laurel

noun

1. Also called: calico bush. any of various ericaceous shrubs or trees of the genus Kalmia, esp K. latifolia of E North America, which has leathery poisonous leaves and clusters of pink or white flowers

Word History and Origins

Origin of mountain laurel¹

An Americanism dating back to 1750–60

Example Sentences

She has filled a comical ceramic vase that has human features with scavenged mountain laurel, honeysuckle, ferns and maple seedlings and laid a table with stemless goblets and speckled dishes.

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The gardens are home to an important collection of plants in the heath family, including native and nonnative rhododendrons and azaleas, along with blueberries, mountain laurel and others, some of which are rare.

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The album is named Laurel Hell, after a folk term for areas of the southern Appalachians, where the mountain laurel grows so close and thickly that it is almost impossible to pass.

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He pushed through the pain and we eventually hiked 55 miles through a tunnel of flowering rhododendron and mountain laurel.

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Streams meander past wood ferns and mountain laurel.

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