Kalmia Latifolia, the Plant

• The mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia grows in the eastern United States and is a member of the Ericaceae, or heath, family. It grows in the understory of a number of plant communities and is a native perennial. The average height of a mature plant is 6 1/2 to 10 feet; occasional specimens grow as tall as 40 feet and as wide as 2 feet in diameter. The plant's scientific name originates with Peter Kalm, the Swedish botanist who collected the first seeds. It goes by a number of alternate common names, such as American briar, American laurel, burl laurel, laurelwood and spoonwood.
  
  

Kalmia Latifolia, the Wood

• Eastern mountain laurel is a heavy, hard, strong wood, with a close, straight grain. It can, however, be brittle. The sapwood is yellow, and the heartwood yellow-brown with reddish spots. The wood dries well if its bark is removed and it is split; it is particularly well-suited to carving or turning.
  
  

Woodworking with Kalmia Latifolia

• Eastern mountain laurel has no real commercial importance because of its small size, but it is frequently turned into bowls and utensils. Native Americans often carved it into spoons, giving it one of its nicknames: spoonwood. Mountain laurel root burl was used to make pipes during WWII, replacing the imported Italian briar wood that became unavailable during the time. This explains another of its names: American briar. The slender branches of mountain laurel are used in the manufacture of traditional handrails, woven between red cedar 1-by-4-inch boards on top and bottom.
  
  

Umbellularia Californica, the Plant

• The mountain laurel Umbellularia californica grows in the western United States, and is a member of the Lauraceae, or laurel, family. A broad-leaved evergreen, it typically grows among other types of trees rather than in pure stands. Average height of the western mountain laurel is 40 to 80 feet, and the average diameter is 18 to 30 inches. Alternative nicknames for it include California bay, bay laurel, laurel, myrtle, myrtlewood and pepperwood.
  
  

Umbellularia Californica, the Wood

• Western mountain laurel is heavy and long-wearing. The heartwood is golden-brown to yellowish-green. The sapwood is pale. More color variation occurs in older trees. It generally has a straight grain, though sometimes it has irregular or wavy grain, which is smooth and compact. It tends to warp and crack during seasoning and, because of its hardness, can blunt tools' sharp edges. The wood polishes well. Many trees produce burls with beautiful grain patterns.
  
  

Woodworking with Umbellularia Californica

• Western mountain laurel has a wide variety of woodworking uses, among them cabinets, furniture, interior trim, paneling, veneer, marquetry, flooring and gunstocks. The burls are turned and carved and are generally marketed as myrtlewood. A novel use of the wood was as legal tender in the city of North Bend, Oregon, during the Great Depression. A myrtlewood manufactory cut hundreds of coin-shaped discs from the wood for use as money when the town's lone bank closed its doors.