North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Kalmia buxifolia

Kalmia buxifolia (Bergius) Gift & Kron

sand-myrtle

Image ID: 15128
Image by: Sorrie, Bruce A.
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: KABU
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Kalmia buxifolia
Include in WOTAS: 0
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2018-12-19

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: KALMI
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Kalmia
GENUS AUTHORITY: L.
GENUS COMMON: Laurel
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of 9-11 species, shrubs, of North America and Cuba, except the circumboreal K. procumbens (formerly Loiseleuria). Leiophyllum, traditionally treated as a monotypic or small genus of se. United States, is better treated as a part of Kalmia along with the northern Loiseleuria, based on molecular and morphological studies (Kron & King 1996, Kron et al. 2002). While this idea may initially seem outlandish (particularly to those whose concept of Kalmia is based only on Kalmia latifolia), the morphological and habital similarities of Leiophyllum to Kalmia are striking. The foliage and wood of all species (and the smoke from burning them) are poisonous.
GENUS IDENTIFICATION:
GENUS REFERENCES: Liu, Denford, Ebinger, Packer, & Tucker in FNA (2009); Southall & Hardin (1974)=Z; Ebinger (1974)=Y; Strand & Wyatt (1991)=Q; Wilbur & Racine (1971)=T; Camp (1938)=P; Kron & King (1996); Kron et al. (2002)=V; Kron, Judd, & Anderberg (2008); Haines (2010)=U; Stevens et al. in Kubitzki (2004).

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: ERICAC
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Ericaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: A.L. de Jussieu 1789
FAMILY COMMON: Heath Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: A family of about 107-124 genera and 3400-4100 species, primarily shrubs, small trees, and subshrubs, nearly cosmopolitan. The Ericaceae is very important in our area, which is one of the north temperate centers of diversity for the Ericaceae, with a great diversity of genera and species, many of them rather narrowly endemic. Along with Quercus and Pinus, various members of this family are dominant in much of our landscape.
FAMILY REFERENCE: Tucker in FNA (2009); Gillespie & Kron (2010, 2013); Kron et al. (2002); Wood (1961); Judd & Kron (1993); Kron & Chase (1993); Luteyn et al. (1996)=L; Dorr & Barrie (1993); Cullings & Hileman (1997); Stevens et al. in Kubitzki (2004).

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO:
STEMS:
LEAVES:
INFLORESCENCE:
FLOWERS:
FRUITS:
COMMENTS:
HEIGHT:

DURATION:
HABIT:

LEAF ARRANGEMENT:
LEAF COMPLEXITY:
LEAF RETENTION:

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY:
BLOOM TIME: Late Mar-Jun (sporadically to Oct).

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
		x	x	x	x

BLOOM COLOR:

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable

FRUITING PERIOD: Sep-Oct.

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE:
NATIVE RANGE: NC, SC, GA, TN, KY, PA & NJ

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text:

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE:
LIGHT EXPOSURE:
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE:
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM COLLECTIONS

Coll_id	Project	Collection date	Collector	Action
1143	HORT	2006-10-05	Bryan	View

GRIM ACCESSIONS

acc_id	acc_num	acc_dt	coll_id	Action
909	1985-0592			View
1959	1986-1749			View
2198	1986-2012			View
4878	1994-0096			View
6686	1996-0339			View
7190	1999-0151	1999-11-10		View
7869	2002-0009	2002-02-19		View
8117	2004-0125			View

GRIM PLANTINGS

plt_num	acc_id	loc_num	pers_num	inst_dt	Action
1678	909	198	NCBG staff	0000-00-00	View
3129	1959	61	NCBG staff	1984-05-01	View
3130	1959	63	NCBG staff	1984-05-01	View
3803	2198	56	NCBG staff	1986-12-23	View
3804	2198	58	NCBG staff	1986-12-23	View
7291	4878	52	NCBG staff	1994-04-21	View
7292	4878	63	Liloia	1994-04-21	View
9451	6686	8	NCBG staff	1996-03-28	View
10137	7190	118	NCBG staff	1999-03-01	View
11372	8117	158	NCBG staff	1967-12-31	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: KABU
USDA Common Name:
Native Status:
Distribution:
Duration:
Growth Habit:

NATIONAL WETLAND INDICATOR STATUS

Region:	AGCP	AK	AW	CB	EMP	GP	HI	MW	NCNE	WMVE
Status:	FACU				FACU				FACU

This information is derived from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2016 National Wetland Plant List, Version 3.3 (Lichvar, R.W., D.L. Banks, W.N. Kirchner, and N.C. Melvin. 2016. The National Wetland Plant List: 2016 wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 2016-30: 1-17. Published 28 April 2016. ISSN 2153 733X). Regions: AGCP-Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, AK-Alaska, AW-Arid West, CB-Caribbean, EMP-Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, GP-Great Plains, HI-Hawaii, MW-Midwest, NCNE-Northcentral and Northeast, WMCV-Western Mountains, Valleys & Coast

2018 Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Plant Species of North Carolina

NHP ID	S RANK	ROUNDED S RANK	G RANK	ROUNDED G RANK	STATE STATUS	FEDERAL STATUS
17828	S3	S3	G4	G4	W6

This information is derived from the 2018 North Carolina Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Plant Species.

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Kalmia buxifolia
COMMON NAME: Sand-myrtle
SYNONYMY: [= FNA, Pa, V; = Leiophyllum buxifolium (P.J. Bergius) Elliott - C, K, L, Q, T, W; > Leiophyllum buxifolium var. buxifolium - RAB; > Leiophyllum buxifolium var. prostratum (Loudon) Gray - RAB; > Leiophyllum buxifolium var. hugeri (Small) Schneider - F, G, P; > Leiophyllum lyonii Sweet - S, P; > Leiophyllum hugeri (Small) K. Schumann - S; = Dendrium buxifolium (Bergius) Desvaux]
PHENOLOGY: Late Mar-Jun (sporadically to Oct); Sep-Oct.
HABITAT: Locally abundant but very restricted in wet (spodosol) pinelands of the outer Coastal Plain (in Brunswick and Carteret counties, NC), locally common in relatively dry sandhills in a few locations in the Sandhills, disjunct in the Piedmont on a few quartzite monadnocks, fairly common in the mountains on rock outcrops at high to moderate elevations (on a wide variety of rock types).
COMMENTS: The species is curiously distributed, both in its overall range and within NC. Kalmia buxifolia is found in the Pine Barrens of NJ, the outer Coastal Plain of se. NC, the inner Coastal Plain (fall-line sandhills) of sc. NC and nc. SC, monadnocks of the upper Piedmont of NC, mountain peaks of NC and immediately adjacent nw. SC, ne. GA, and e. TN, and isolated in extreme e. PA (Monroe County) and in se. KY (on sandstone in Whitley County, in the Cumberland Plateau). Populations in the high mountains consist of very old, prostrate krummholz, the stems to 6 cm in diameter at the base, the branches spreading to cover at least a square meter. The disjunct distribution, various habitats, and subtle morphological variation between populations has led to periodic attempts to divide the species into two or more varieties or species, but the variability apparently cannot be successfully described taxonomically; it is here treated as a single species. See X, Y, and Q for detailed discussion of the various taxa recognized by various authors (within the genus Leiophyllum). Strand & Wyatt (1991) found a population from Hanging Rock, Stokes County, NC to be the most distinctive, but did not choose to give it formal taxonomic status.
RANGE MAP: Kalmia buxifolia.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Ericaceae A.L. de Jussieu 1789 (Heath Family)
SUMMARY: A family of about 107-124 genera and 3400-4100 species, primarily shrubs, small trees, and subshrubs, nearly cosmopolitan. The Ericaceae is very important in our area, which is one of the north temperate centers of diversity for the Ericaceae, with a great diversity of genera and species, many of them rather narrowly endemic. Along with Quercus and Pinus, various members of this family are dominant in much of our landscape.
REFERENCE: Tucker in FNA (2009); Gillespie & Kron (2010, 2013); Kron et al. (2002); Wood (1961); Judd & Kron (1993); Kron & Chase (1993); Luteyn et al. (1996)=L; Dorr & Barrie (1993); Cullings & Hileman (1997); Stevens et al. in Kubitzki (2004).

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Kalmia L. (Laurel)
SUMMARY: A genus of 9-11 species, shrubs, of North America and Cuba, except the circumboreal K. procumbens (formerly Loiseleuria). Leiophyllum, traditionally treated as a monotypic or small genus of se. United States, is better treated as a part of Kalmia along with the northern Loiseleuria, based on molecular and morphological studies (Kron & King 1996, Kron et al. 2002). While this idea may initially seem outlandish (particularly to those whose concept of Kalmia is based only on Kalmia latifolia), the morphological and habital similarities of Leiophyllum to Kalmia are striking. The foliage and wood of all species (and the smoke from burning them) are poisonous.
REFERENCE: Liu, Denford, Ebinger, Packer, & Tucker in FNA (2009); Southall & Hardin (1974)=Z; Ebinger (1974)=Y; Strand & Wyatt (1991)=Q; Wilbur & Racine (1971)=T; Camp (1938)=P; Kron & King (1996); Kron et al. (2002)=V; Kron, Judd, & Anderberg (2008); Haines (2010)=U; Stevens et al. in Kubitzki (2004).

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Kalmia buxifolia in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Kalmia buxifolia in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Kalmia buxifolia in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Kalmia buxifolia in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Kalmia buxifolia in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Kalmia buxifolia

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 15128 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 15128 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 15126 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 4035 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)