Editing Kalmia latifolia (section)

==Ecology==
''Kalmia latifolia'' has been marked as a pollinator plant, supporting and attracting [[Butterfly|butterflies]] and [[hummingbird]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Planting Guides|url=https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator.org/assets/generalFiles/OzarkBroadleafrx1FINAL_171017_085901.pdf|access-date=2022-01-29|website=Pollinator.org|language=en-US}}</ref>

It is also notable for its unusual method of dispensing its pollen. As the flower grows, the filaments of its [[stamens]] are bent and brought into tension. When an insect lands on the flower, the tension is released, catapulting the pollen forcefully onto the insect.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Kalmia%20latifolia.pdf |title=''Kalmia latifolia'' L. |author=McNabb, W. Henry |website=United States Forest Service |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=27 April 2015}}</ref> Experiments have shown the flower capable of flinging its pollen up to 15&nbsp;cm.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nimmo |first1=John R. |last2=Hermann |first2=Paula M. |last3=Kirkham |first3=M. B. |last4=Landa |first4=Edward R. |title=Pollen Dispersal by Catapult: Experiments of Lyman J. Briggs on the Flower of Mountain Laurel |journal=Physics in Perspective |volume=16 |issue=3 |date=2014 |doi=10.1007/s00016-014-0141-9 |pages=383|bibcode=2014PhP....16..371N |s2cid=121070863 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1232576 }}</ref> Physicist [[Lyman J. Briggs]] became fascinated with this phenomenon in the 1950s after his retirement from the [[National Bureau of Standards]] and conducted a series of experiments in order to explain it.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nimmo |first1=John R. |last2=Hermann |first2=Paula M. |last3=Kirkham |first3=M. B. |last4=Landa |first4=Edward R. |title=Pollen Dispersal by Catapult: Experiments of Lyman J. Briggs on the Flower of Mountain Laurel |journal=Physics in Perspective |volume=16 |issue=3 |date=2014 |doi=10.1007/s00016-014-0141-9 |pages=371–389|bibcode=2014PhP....16..371N |s2cid=121070863 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1232576 }}</ref>