swamp laurel

1. 1.

   laurel of bogs of northwestern United States having small purple flowers and pale leaves that are glaucous beneath

   Synonymsbog laurelbog kalmiaKalmia polifolia

   Broaderkalmia
2. 2.

   shrub or small tree having rather small fragrant white flowers; abundant in southeastern United States

   Synonymssweet bayswamp bayMagnolia virginiana

   Broadermagnolia

Questions about swamp laurel

What does swamp laurel mean?

swamp laurel means "laurel of bogs of northwestern United States having small purple flowers and pale leaves that are glaucous beneath". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for swamp laurel?

Close synonyms include bog laurel, bog kalmia, Kalmia polifolia, sweet bay, swamp bay. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is swamp laurel a common word?

swamp laurel is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.