22. Cardinal Grosbeak (Carolina Laurelcherry

Cardinal

Songs: cue cue cue; cheer cheer cheer; purty purty purty. Call: chip

Fig. 49 and 50

In richness of plumage, elegance of motion, and strength of song, this species surpasses all its kindred in the United States. Vol. 2, 336

—J. J. Audubon

ToWNSeND’S WARBleR, ARCTIC BlUe-BIRD, WeSTeRN BlUe-BIRD, Plate CCCXCIII

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Carolina Allspice

Calycanthus floridus

The oldest known member of its genus that has found its way into gardens, Calycanthus floridus was noted by Mark Catesby (1682–1749) in the woodlands of Piedmont Carolina. He described its bark “as odoriferous as cinnamon” (7) and its flower like a starry anemone. The planters of Carolina gathered it into their gardens, and through John Bartram’s boxes, Peter Collinson imported it into England from Charleston, South Carolina, about 1756. He described it to Linnaeus for naming. Since the leathery, maroon flowers are not very showy, the shrub is considered by some to be of minor garden value, where scent is less valued than color. It is, however, an old-fashioned and sentimental favorite in the American Southeast, its native home.

“The plant represented, Calycanthus floridus, the Carolina Allspice, much esteemed on account of the fragrance of its large purple flowers, abounds in the Southern States, growing on the margins of swamps and rivulets” (Audubon, Vol. 5, 44).

None of the birds represented in this plate were seen by Audubon living in their natural environments. Like the western birds represented in Plate CCCXCV (number 6 in the guide), Audubon purchased the skins of the birds from Thomas Nuttall, a member of the Wyeth Expedition. Maria Martin made the original painting of the Carolina allspice in 1836, when Audubon was working feverishly in Charleston to complete the paintings for The Birds of America. For these reasons, Audubon pairs birds of the Far West with a Southern plant.

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