Talk:Kalmia latifolia

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Nomenclature[edit]

Are the varieties supposed to be species of Kalmia, which should probably go under just Kalmia rather than here, or subspecies of K. latifolia? In both cases the names should be lower-cased and italicized, but the "Var." should also be changed to "Sp." or "Ssp." as appropriate.

Also, would Mountain Laurels be considered Rhododendron? They are both in the heath or heather family (Ericaceae) Samatva (talk) 02:04, 23 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

They are not varieties or species, they are named cultivars, which are always capitalised (see MOS:LIFE). Kalmia and Rhododendron are different genera within Ericaceae. Darorcilmir (talk) 06:23, 23 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Toxicity[edit]

I don't doubt that K. latifolia is toxic, but we need a solid source for that info, especially since this subsection goes into such specifics. I'll see what I can find, but in the meantime, any other help would be much appreciated. --Photosynthetic430 (talk) 15:30, 24 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Refs added. 71.234.215.133 (talk) 08:10, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Medical use[edit]

The information being added to the "Medical use" section appears to be taken almost word-for-word from this blog, including the misspelling of the word "mash". Since the entire section was unreferenced, and mountain laurel is a poison, I deleted the whole section (I was not the first, either[1]). If historic and/or scientific refs can be found that prove the plant is useful medically, please add them. The two "medical" refs I found said nothing had been proven (WebMD), and that people from the Delaware tribe used it to commit suicide (UPenn ref used in the article but without historical source, and repeated ad infinitum all over the net). 71.234.215.133 (talk) 12:55, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

October 2012: Toxicity[edit]

I removed Poisonous Plants of the Southern United States as it does not list any specific animals that K.l. is poisonous to. I therefore removed sheep, as it no longer had a reference.
I removed the speculation about the Smokey Mountains and rhododendron, as it was unsupported by the ref. While rhododendron is undoubtedly a source of grayanotoxin, this article is about K.l.. The ref also states, " In the eastern half of the United States grayanotoxin-contaminated honey may be derived from other members of the botanical family Ericaceae, to which rhododendrons belong. Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) are probably the most important sources of the toxin." Bad Bug Book - Grayanotoxin, section 6: Relative Frequency of Disease The eastern half of the United States contains the Smokey Mountains.
The description of K.l. versus rhododendron is not needed in this section, and probably not in the entire article, unless a reference as to the importance of distinguishing between the two plants can be found.
I removed A Modern Herbal as the section deals with toxicity, not historical medical uses. Also, it was not cited to the actual book or a scanned version thereof (volume? page number? publisher?).

Thundersnow 12:34, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Common names[edit]

Other sites talk about lambkill as being similar to mountain laurel, or mistaken for mountain laurel. Here it is one of the names for mountain laurel. Which is correct? I believe the distinction (or not) should be mentioned and described. Chasecf (talk) 15:54, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

At the top of the page is a link to disambiguating mountain laurel, a common name that is used for several plants. Perhaps that is the source of confusion, but you haven't pointed to these "other sites" so I can't try to understand them. Sminthopsis84 (talk) 18:55, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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External links modified[edit]

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Use by Native Americans[edit]

It seems dangerous to follow a section describing legal Toxicity with details of unscientific aboriginal herbal medicine uses. If such uses are efficacious, some citation should be given. If not, this should be clearly marked as unverified folklore and potentially dangerous use of the plant. 174.73.176.201 (talk) 20:46, 24 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Origin[edit]

The article says that the plant is native to North America, but later that it was brought from Europe in the 18th century.

Brought TO Europe in the 18th century. Darorcilmir (talk) 10:53, 3 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Other sources all agree that it is native to the eastern USA. 87.6.65.205 (talk) 09:19, 3 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]