Tab. 6972. 

 RHODODENDRON" rhombicum. 



Native of Japan. 



Nat. Ord. Ericaceae. — Tribe Khodokejs. 

 Genus Rhododendron, Linn. ; {Bentk. et HooJc.f. Gen. PL vol. ii. p. 599.) 



Rhododendron (Azalea) rhomhicum ; ramulis junioribus petiolis pedioellisqna 

 hirsutis, foliis diu persistentibus breviter petiolatis rhombeis acutis eglandd- 

 losis, floribus ad apices ramulorum bitiis, mia cum foliis paucis series maturatis 

 e gemma terminata erumpentibus, gemmarum bracteis oblongis membranaoeia 

 demiim recurvis, floribus breviter pedicellatis, calyoe parvo 5-dentato hirsuto, 

 corollas rose© limbo sub-bilabiato, lobis oblongis tubo breviter campanula^ 

 multoties longioribus obtusis concavis, staminibus 10, filamentis gracillimis > 

 anticis quam posticis duplo longioribus decliiiatis, antheris minutis, ovario 

 parvo 5-loculari hirsuto, stylo gracili elongato, stigmate truncato. 



R. rhombicum, Miguel Trains. Fl. Jap. p. 96 ; Begel Gartcnfi. 1868, p. 225, 

 t. 586 ; Maximov. Rhod. As. Or. p. 26. 



Ii. reticulatum? Bon Gen. Syst. vol. iii. p. 816. 



Tsurogone tsutsusi, M'tquel Ann. Mus. Lur/d. Hat. vol. i. p. 34. 



In his admirable memoir on the Asiatic species of 

 RhododendretF published in the " Memoirs of the Imperial 

 Academy of St. Petersburg," Maximovicz has definitely 

 relegated Azalea to its right position as a section of 

 Rhododendron, and we have followed him in the "Genera 

 Plantarura." The characters once and still depended on for 

 separating Azalea were the eight stamens and deciduous 

 leaves; but the stamens aro often ten, and as Maximovicz 

 points out, several species retain their leaves during 

 flowering and even after, as the subject of the present 

 plate instances. There is in fact no other character given 

 by Maximovicz in his conspectus of the sections of the genus, 

 whereby that of Azalea is distinguished from section 

 Eurliododendron, but the deciduous leaves. 



B. rhombicum is a native of the Island of Niphon, where 

 it inhabits mountain forests, and its near allies are all 

 Japanese and Chinese. The specimen figured flowered in 

 an azalea bed in the Rojal Gardens in May, and leaves 

 were fully developed in June, but there are specimens in 



dec. 1st, 1887. 



