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paring it with specimens received from the Neelgherry hills 
(‘‘ Rhododendron sp.” Herb. Wight, propr. sine numero, and 
from Sir Frederick Adam), I have no hesitation in pro- 
nouncing it to be the same, and in adopting the name given to 
it by Zenker in the work above quoted. It should be observed 
that Drs. Wight and Arnott, in their distributed specimens, refer 
to “ R. nobile, Wall. Cat. n. 1521 ¢,” which is the identical 
Neelgherry plant. For my own part, with a Herbarium pretty rich 
in arborescent Rhododendra, 1 have seen nothing corresponding 
to this, except from the Neelgherries. But if, as there seems no 
reason to doubt, the seeds of the one here given were derived 
from Northern India (a region very remote from the Neelgherry 
chain), then it becomes a question whether Dr. Wallich’s 
“ R. arboreum,” figured in Plante <Asiatice Rariores, (vol. 0. 
p. 23. p. 123), var. foliis subtus ferrugineo-tomentosis, flori- 
bus albis,’” may not be a. state of this; though the figure 
does not represent the leaves so rufous and so tomentose as In 
our plant; nor do I think that the learned author intends to 
describe the kind of tomentum seen on R. Nilagiricum ; for he 
speaks of the difference of his plant from arboreum consisting 
only in the more or less brown colour of the leaves of the lower 
surface. In regard to the hue of the flowers I may mention 
that it varies, as is seen by my dried Neelgherry specimens, 
from deep crimson to rose colour, which latter is the state of our 
individual. 
It will be observed that we are speaking of a plant derived 
directly from Indian seeds, and not of one that has been hybri- 
dized in our gardens, which is so much done, that we stand 
a great chance of losing the original types in our collections. 
R. Nilagiricum is a most lovely shrub, and, what adds to its 
value, perfectly hardy, having endured several winters in the 
open ground in Messrs. Lucombe and Pince’s Nursery. It 
_ flowered in April, 1848, in the said Nursery, and we believe it is 
the first of the species that has blossomed in this country. 
We have the pleasure of being able to announce that another and most dis- 
tinct arborescent Rhododendron, of great beauty, with dark red or puce-coloured 
heads of flowers, large, coriaceous, glossy foliage, and with the young branches, 
peduncles, and fruit clothed with long, stiff, glandular hairs or bristles, has been 
raised from Nepal seeds, by Messrs. Francis and James Dickson, of the Upton 
Nurseries, Chester. It is the Rhododendron barbatum of Wallich, hitherto un- 
’ known, except by the specimens distributed by that liberal botanist from the 
herbarium. We greatly regret that we had not the opportunity of figuring this, 
when it blossomed there, in the early part of May; for, with the splendid colour 
of the true R. arborewm, it unites the advantage of being perfectly hardy, the 
original plant having stood out of doors in the climate of Cheshire for the last 
seven years, without protection. It has also flowered at the Marquis of West- 
minster’s, and we are informed that Messrs. Dickson have now plants on sale, . 
at their Upton Nurseries, Chester. 
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