Keyed Out #053 — Kalmia latifolia

Question 1

Its five petals are joined into a single shallow cup that drops away in one piece when the bloom is spent, and the {ovary} stands free above the base of that cup rather than being sunk beneath it.

Accepted Answer

heath family

Question 2

It feeds through a felt of thread-fine roots that carry no root hairs at all and lean on a fungal partner to strip nitrogen out of raw acid peat, so the foliage yellows into {chlorosis} the moment lime lifts the ground above about pH 6.

Accepted Answer

Ericaceae

Question 3

Each of its ten {stamens} is bowed backwards with the {anther} lodged in a small pouch in the wall of the flower, held under tension until a visiting bee trips it and the pollen is flung onto the insect.

Accepted Answer

Kalmia

Question 4

Its fruit is a dry five-parted {capsule} tipped by the withered {style}, standing stiffly on glandular stalks and still shedding dust-fine seed a year later, never anything soft or edible.

Accepted Answer

Kalmia

Question 5

Its flower clusters finish the shoot, sitting right at its tip so the season's new leaves must break out from below and around them, instead of being carried in the leaf {axils} some way down the stem with fresh growth standing above.

Accepted Answer

Kalmia latifolia

Question 6

Its blades are thick, glossy and 2 to 5 inches (5 to 13 cm) long, wide enough to cover a thumb and borne singly along the stem, quite unlike the small crowded blades under about 1.5 inches (4 cm) that its nearest kin carry.

Accepted Answer

Kalmia latifolia