Birth flower for June 23
Mountain laurel
Meaning: great hope
When a mountain laurel flower opens, each stamen is tucked into a little pocket in the petals and bent like a spring. A visiting bee knocks it loose, and the stamen flicks up to dust the insect with pollen. The genus Kalmia honors Pehr Kalm, a student of Linnaeus who collected plants in North America, and it is the state flower of both Connecticut and Pennsylvania.