PHOTO PROVIDED On the mountain laurel, Pink buds appear first. As the buds open white flowers appear and these flowers will once again turn pink as they mature.

On a trip up Armenia Mountain, Mary Alice and I noticed that our state flower was starting to bloom. The mountain laurel, which is one of the most beautiful of our native shrubs, was first recorded in America in 1624. The fragrant star-shaped white and pink flowers have attracted travelers since early colonial days.

Before the mountain laurel was given official recognition, governor Gifford Pinchot had to make a choice between two bills that were placed on his desk. His signature was required for the proposal of either the mountain laurel or the pink azalea flower to be the official state flower.

It is rumored that the governor preferred the pink azalea, but his wife preferred the mountain laurel. Cornelia Pinchot used her influence to have the legislators vote for the plant as our state flower and then persuaded her husband to sign the bill. On May 5, 1933, Pinchot signed the bill into law.

During the middle of June, pink buds begin to appear on the mountain laurel plant and as they begin to open, white flowers are revealed. The flowers will once again turn pink as they mature. Each flower blooms in a cluster about six inches across, with a small, crimson, star-shaped marking in the center. Pennsylvania’s mountains will show a touch of pink when the mountain laurel is in full bloom.

The flower has a very unusual way of cross-pollinating. The plant sets a trap for any insect entering the flower. The trap is set when the fully matured stamens are bent over and hooked lightly to the corolla walls. They are under such pressure that the weight of a bee landing on the flower releases the trap, causing the stamens to spring upward and douse the bee with pollen.

The pollen grains are sticky, which assure their being carried to the next flower. The main pollinator of the laurels is usually the bumblebee.

The genus name Kalmia refers to the Swedish botanist Pehr (Peter) Kalm, who was a pupil of Linnaeus. Kalm came to America to collect new specimens of flowers and shrubs and returned to Europe with over 600 hundred new species. Linnaeus was so happy with the new specimens that he named the laurels, one of Kalm’s favorite plants, in his honor. Possibly, Kalm is the only person to have a plant genus named after him. Usually all plants and animals have either Latin or Greek names.

The Native Americans gathered laurel leaves, which were dried and powdered, to use as a treatment for dysentery. Our early ancestors also steeped the leaves and mixed them with animal fat to make an ointment for the itch and almost any kind of skin rash.

Early in the century wild laurel and azaleas were dug up by the train loads and sent to commercial markets. The digging and selling of laurel became very profitable. However, a way of culturing the tissue eventually made it possible to grow mountain laurel. Mountain laurel grows well in cultivated soil but does not grow well in soil that lacks acid.

In the wild, laurel grows in the most inhospitable places, such as rocky areas and especially under the shade of oaks, where the acid is high. Mountain laurel spreads in three ways: a spreading root system that sends up new shoots; layering, when the branches touch the ground and send down a root and lastly, from the seeds.

In the fall, the flowers mature into small, five-part capsules. If a capsule is broken open, what seems to be brown dust appears. This dust is the plant’s seeds. A single capsule is about the size of a pea and contains up to seven hundred seeds.

When the capsule splits open, the small seeds are dispersed by the wind. Moss patches, which are an ideal place for the seeds to land, create ideal moisture conditions for the young sprouts. The seeds will remain alive throughout the winter and then germinate in the spring.

Mountain laurel is more beneficial to wildlife as cover than it is as food. Deer are known to feed on the mountain laurel, which is said to raise their body temperatures during a prolonged cold, and they also feed upon it as a last resort against starvation. The deer do not seem to receive any ill effects from feeding on the laurel. However, other wild animals and domestic animals will become ill and sometimes die from eating the mountain laurel because the plant’s leaves and stems contain chemicals that are toxic to most animals.

Many deer and bear have escaped hunters by heading to the nearest thick patch of laurel. Once inside it is almost impossible for the hunters to chase them out.

You must admit that our official state flower is an unusual plant, and it is quite fitting that the mountain laurel has received the honor of being our official state flower. However today there are few foresters that would agree with you.

During the 1930-40s, our forests lost the mighty chestnut tree, leaving openings in the forest canopy created by the loss of these trees. The mountain laurel, which does not like shade, has taken this opportunity to invade the open areas. Today there are stands of mountain laurel that are so thick they are almost impossible to penetrate and nothing else can take root.

If you have not seen the mountain laurel, I am sure that a ride through the mountains during the next few weeks will still allow you to see our state flower in bloom.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.