On (16 Apr 98) WL Sakowski wrote to Stu...
 WS>  SW>> Any mountain laurel experts out there? I've been told
 WS> Well, Stu, why didn't you pick a *really* tough job?  :)  I mean,
 WS> San Antonio is about as far removed for a mountain
 WS> laural as *Mars* would be!  (I'm joking, of course, but
 WS> it *is* a pretty tall order, to ask a mountain laural
 WS> to grow in South Texas!
 WS> My bad, Stu.  It is dangerous to presume that one has the correct
 WS> plant, just because the common name is the same.  If you are in
 WS> San Antonio area, then you most probably don't have the one that
 WS> I referred to... from the eastern U.S.
WL and Stu,
Well, I guess both of you are right in a sense. The Texas plant
commonly called Mountain Laurel is the Mescal Bean, or Sophora
Secudiflora. It's flowers hang in beautiful deep purple grapelike
clusters, and their wonderful odor is almost overpowering. It IS quite
a different plant than the beautiful Eastern Mountain Laurel with its
star shaped pink blooms.
Kent
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