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Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-2783.jpg
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  • and die mountain slopes are thick with flame azalea and 'wild honeysuckle' beneath the dense stand of trees. The bold mountain summits and knife-like ridges have a dense covering of rhododendrons and sand myrtle which make them appear from a distance to be less rugged and precipitous. I here tire two species of rose-flowered rhododendrons on these mountain summits. One is the large rhododendron catavfbiense which sometimes grows three times as high as one s head and has large clusters of rose-purple flowers which beautify the mountains in the summer. It is also to be appreciated when the flowers are gone because of the leaves— gracefully drooping, glossy, green, and almost white beneath. Phe other rhododendron is a short shrub rarely over waist nigh, with dense clusters of small rose-colored flowers. The leaves tire small and tend to stand erect rather than to droop. I hey tire also characterized by a slight scaliness and small dots on the under surfaces and petioles which fact suggested the specific name punctatum. Since the flowers of this rhododendron are so numerous and the bushes are uniform in height, the end of a mountain often appears as a solid sheet of rose color." Kalmia reaches its maximum development in the Great Smokies, it not being unusual to find arborescent laurels one foot or more in diameter and many feet high. One of the most interesting floral features of the Great Smokies pertains to the "balds." Dr. Stanley A. Cain, noted botanist, who litis made a scientific study of the "balds" of me Great Smokies, draws ti sharp distinction between the tfassy and the heath "balds." Concerning the heath "balds" Dr. Cain says: "The so- called heath balds or 'slicks' of the natives are treeless areas Which occur mainly as inclusions in the spruce-fir belts, but Me also found in the region of the northern hardwoeds. The Physiognomy of these balds can best be described as broad- Sderophyll scrub formations; but the terms heath bald or Wicad bald have a certain value, in that they suggest the im- 95
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