1414 
RHODODENDRON* Alta-clerense. 
The Highclere Rhododendron. 
DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. Erıcez Juss. (Introduction to the natural system of Botany, 
p. 182.) 
RHODODENDRO N.—Suprà, vol. 1. fol. 37. 
GARDEN VARIETY. 
We have on several occasions lately presented our 
readers with figures of hybrid Azaleas of great beauty 
raised at Highclere, the seat of the Earl of Caernarvon. 
Lovely as those were, their ornamental character is almost 
as nothing compared with the subject of this account, in 
which every thing of beauty that a plant can possess seems 
collected, fragrance alone being wanting. ith a clear 
transparent crimson colour, rendered still more bright by 
a few distinct spots of a darker hue, are combined a fine 
bold outline, a great breadth of surface, and the utmost 
symmetry ; while the deep rich green of the magnificent 
foliage forms à back-ground in the most perfect harmony 
with the lively tints of the blossoms. 
The history of the creation of this superb plant deserves 
to be particularly described, as it not only shews how great 
the power of man is over nature, but holds out to us a 
prospect of the most gratifying kind in regard to the future 
gayness of our Gardens. 
Rhododendron arboreum is, as is well known, an Indian 
* Well may this be called the Tree of Roses (jeder, a rose, and ideo», a 
tree), if we picture to ourselves a plant, twenty or thirty feet high, covered 
with blossoms of such lively colours as those represented in the accompanying 
figure. Alta-Clera is the name of Highclere in Domesday Book, and in 
ancient writings. 
