Kalmia angustifolia L.

More info for the term: shrub

sheep laurel
lambkill
sheepkill
calfkill
dwarf-laurel
wicky


TAXONOMY:
The scientific name of sheep laurel is Kalmia angustifolia L. (Ericaceae).
Sheep laurel does not hybridize with other North American Kalmia species [43].


LIFE FORM:
Shrub

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No special status

OTHER STATUS:
NO-ENTRY





DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Kalmia angustifolia
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
Sheep laurel is found in northeastern North America from Newfoundland
and Labrador west through Ontario, south through Michigan, and
occasionally as far south as Georgia. It is most common in the eastern
Great Lakes region, the St. Lawrence River region, northern New England,
and the Maritime Provinces. Sheep laurel is occasional in the
Appalachian Mountains, on the Piedmont Plateau, and on the United
States' upper Atlantic Coastal Plain [36,41].

Sheep laurel is found in northeastern North America from Newfoundland
and Labrador west through Ontario, south through Michigan, and
occasionally as far south as Georgia. It is most common in the eastern
Great Lakes region, the St. Lawrence River region, northern New England,
and the Maritime Provinces. Sheep laurel is occasional in the
Appalachian Mountains, on the Piedmont Plateau, and on the United
States' upper Atlantic Coastal Plain [36,41].



Distribution of sheep laurel. Map courtesy of USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database.
National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC [2018, July 17] [40].

More info for the terms: density, formation, fuel, heath

All but the most severe fires enhance the growth of sheep laurel stands.
Permanent control of sheep laurel require fires severe enough to kill
the rhizomes; such fires often consume the organic layer of the soil
[31]. Managers should note that most sheep laurel-dominated communities
in Nova Scotia are associated with frequent fires. Logging and fire
promote heath formation [5]. The high stem density in heaths causes
severe fires when they eventually burn. Frequent fires reduce fuel
accumulation and, consequently, are less severe [26].

More info for the terms: bog, codominant, fern, hardwood, shrub

Sheep laurel is a common understory shrub in eastern lowland forests.
It is characteristically found in coniferous, mixed, and hardwood stands
in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States [28,38]. On
peatlands, it often occurs in extensive, nearly pure stands known as
"heaths" [6]. Sheep laurel is a common dominant of bog communities in
the lower St. Lawrence lowlands [10] and grows in the New Jersey Pine
Barrens [11].

Common overstory associates include red spruce (Picea rubens) [2], black
spruce (Picea mariana) [8,42], jack pine (Pinus banksiana) [28], quaking
aspen (Populus tremuloides), and paper birch (Betula papyrifera) [37].
Understory associates include bog Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum),
low sweet blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), wintergreen (Gaultheria
procumbens), sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina) [43], Sphagnum spp., and
Cladonia spp. [8,37]

Published classification schemes listing sheep laurel as a dominant or
codominant member of a plant associations or community types include:

Geographical changes in the vegetation of raised bogs in the bay of
Fundy region of Maine and New Brunswick [7]
The principal plant associations of the St. Lawrence Valley [9].

More info for the term: shrub

Shrub

Sheep laurel is a serious pest in blueberry fields. Control by fire is
usually ineffective [34]. Sheep laurel has stronger rhizomes and sprout
growth than blueberry and requires repeated control [21]. Ten percent
of all the low sweet blueberry acreage in the Maritime Provinces
requires sheep laurel herbicide control treatment each year [43].

In addition to outcompeting conifer seedlings for nutrients, light, and
space [29], sheep laurel has an allelopathic effect on conifer seedlings
[5,29,39]. The establishment of sheep laurel-dominated heaths after
disturbance may produce soil conditions that prevent conifer seedling
establishment [5,6].

Several herbicide treatments have been tested for control of
sheep laurel. Most were difficult to use and ineffective [43].

More info on this topic.

More info for the term: fruit

Sheep laurel flowers during June and early July. Its fruit ripens
between late July and mid-September [23,36,43]. The seeds disperse in
early October. New shoot growth begins during late May and early June
[43].

More info for the term: shrub

Small shrub, adventitious-bud root crown

The scientific name of sheep laurel is Kalmia angustifolia L. (Ericaceae).
Sheep laurel does not hybridize with other North American Kalmia species [43].