Mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia, is blooming all around Stone Mountain.
It’s not the mountain laurel I knew in Texas. That was Sophora secundiflora.
The Texas version has purple blossoms and an unforgettable scent. It always reminded me of the tangy sugar candy that came in a straw when I was a boy. You unraveled one end of the straw and shook the tiny granules into your mouth. They were a penny apiece.
The little trees produced big pods of beans. The Cualhuiltecan and other original people brewed a hallucinogenic drink from the beans. The drink was featured in mitotes, those wild parties that so frightened the Spanish fathers at the missions. I always thought it funny that, 300 years later, the tree that had so haunted the authorities had become a favorite ornamental of the parks department.
The mountain laurel in the Georgia Piedmont produces flowers that are pink, red and white. White blossoms flecked with red are common, and some of old Georgians call it calico bush.
The Missouri Botanical Gardens says the blooms go rose to white with purple markings. I’ve seen deep reds — magenta and maroon — but not purple. I’ll keep looking.
• Source: For a bit more on Sophora secundiflora and Texas, see “Mountain laurels are not tame trees,” March 18, 2022.
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