PEAK SEASON: According to Marcus Schneck of PennLive.com, the peak bloom season for Pennsylvania’s official state flower, the mountain laurel, is almost over — lining statewide forested roads with “bursts of clusters of white to pink to red bell-like blossoms.”

An interesting tidbit of information on PA’s state flower — it almost wasn’t the state flower. In 1933, the Pa. General Assembly passed two bills which named a state flower, leaving Governor Gifford Pinchot to make the choice between the mountain laurel or the pink azalea.

This flowering shrub has more than 75 variations developed by the nursery trade, according to Schneck. It is also one of the fastest moving (or reproducing) plants in the nation, due to the way it catapults its pollen when pollinators land to feed, according to the Harvard Gazette.

Another good fact to know when it comes to Pa.’s state flower is that all of the green parts of the shrub are poisonous and can be fatal to both humans and animals.

“Children have been poisoned by merely sucking on the flowers of this plant. Even honey made from mountain laurel pollen is toxic,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Mountain laurel is distributed throughout most of the state, especially upon wooded hillsides. According to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources it is particularly abundant in mountainous sections of the state. It grows all throughout the Allegheny National Forest, but the Morrison Hiking Trail System boasts about its plentiful growth along the path. Do you know a nearby location where the mountain laurel is teeming? Let the The Era newsroom know by calling (814) 362-6531 or emailing the location to news@bradfordera.com.