Way back in the beginning of things, there was a Cherokee Adowahi, who lived in the foothills of the Piedmont. He was a good medicine man, but he longed to be the most powerful Adowahi in all Cherokee land. He also wished to give great gifts to his people, that he might be remembered forever. He fasted for seven days and nights, and on the seventh night, he had a vision that told him to seek the Red Thunder. After many trials and tribulations, he reached the rocky crags of the Nantahalas where Red Thunder lived. Red Thunder heard his plea and gave him two bright green eggs. "Take these back to your hillside and put them in a nest by the stream.  When they hatch you will have great power!"

The Adowahi started homeward. It was a long journey, and as he camped beside a small stream, he found his corn-bag empty. He was so hungry he ate the green eggs and scattered the shells by the stream. He never became the most powerful Adowahi of the Cherokees,  but from the green egg shells the mountain laurel grew and became one of the seven sacred trees of the Cherokees.

To this day, the mountain laurel grows on the hills or along streams. It shares its dry or rocky habitat with galax, trailing arbutus, and blueberries, shaded by sourwood, dog­wood, hickory, oaks, and pines. Its formal name is Kalmia latifolia, named for Swedish botanist, Peter Kalm, who explored this country in 1753. Around 1776, William Bartram traveled through the Piedmont and the mountains, and named it as part of "his assemblage of mountain beauties."

In the mountains, this shrub is known as "ivy" or "calico-bush". The crooked branches have been used for walking sticks, and the tough wood made into tool handles. Extremely large mountain laurels have been listed at Highlands, North Carolina and Wiley, Georgia. Although the lovely flowers are poisonous, the leaves and buds form part of the winter diet of the ruffed grouse.

The shiny, often red-stemmed, evergreen leaves snake the bush attractive all year. Flower buds are formed in autumn to await the resurgence of spring. In May, the bright pink buds and opening blossoms cover the hillsides with beauty. Each fluted pink bud is followed by a star-shaped flower.  The flowers are marvelously adapted for cross-polli­nation by bumble bees. Each flower has ten stamens, each equipped with anther springs that release pollen at the slightest touch. The visiting bee gets covered with the rich, golden pollen, and carries it to other blossoms, thus insuring cross-pollination and a copious amount of fine brown seed.

To see the mountain laurel in all its glory, go to the hills and mountains in spring, and see it in its native haunts. It loses something when picked; the cut blossoms soon droop and wilt. As the Cherokees went to the mountains every spring to rejoice in the blossoms of their sacred tree, so there should be an annual trek to the hills to see the mountain laurel in bloom.

"We'll away to the hills where the green laurel grows

When its pink blossoms reach up so high,

For the heart overflows when the green laurel glows

With color as pink as the May morning sky!"

MARIE MELLINGER