Index / Search / Kalmia microphylla
§1 Plant
Kalmia microphylla (Hook.) A. Heller
vernacular alpine laurel — species · Ericaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Ericaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Kalmia
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 105 counties across 10 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Medium
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -28 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 85 min.
- Precipitation
- 12–20 in/yr
- pH range
- 6–7.3
- Root depth
- 12 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 1 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 1 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Dark Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- Purple
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 25,000,000
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Contracting Only
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 105 counties across 10 states/territories.
Alaska view state ↗ 5 N ▾
California view state ↗ 18 N ▾
Colorado view state ↗ 10 N ▾
Idaho view state ↗ 12 N ▾
Montana view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Nevada view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Oregon view state ↗ 20 N ▾
Utah view state ↗ 6 N ▾
Washington view state ↗ 21 N ▾
- Chelan 53007
- Clallam 53009
- Cowlitz 53015
- Grays Harbor 53027
- Island 53029
- King 53033
- Kittitas 53037
- Klickitat 53039
- Lewis 53041
- Mason 53045
- Okanogan 53047
- Pacific 53049
- Pend Oreille 53051
- Pierce 53053
- San Juan 53055
- Skagit 53057
- Skamania 53059
- Snohomish 53061
- Thurston 53067
- Whatcom 53073
- Yakima 53077
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/KAMI ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2882998 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z