Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Mountain laurel was given its scientific name, Kalmia latifolia, by the father of the binomical naming system, Karl Linnaeus. who named it for one of his botany students, Peter Kalm. Kalm was sent to North American to look for plants that might have economic importance , and he sent Kalmia specimens to Sweden during his collecting trip to North America in the 1740’s. The specific epithet latifolia means broad leaf, although the leaves aren’t particularly broad when you look at them. However, other Kalmia species have narrower leaves and one of those is called Kalmia angustifolia – angustifolia means narrow leaved. All Kalmias are very poisonous if animals eat them but Kalmia angustifolia gets special attention as one of its common names is sheepkill. Since we seldom keep sheep or goats in our landscaped yards, you don’t need to worry about adding these beautiful shrubs to your native plant collection.
Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.