grows both well at Caerhays and at Werrington, near 
Launceston, which is colder than Caerhays. It is a 
dwarf shrub which begins to flower when less than 
eighteen inches in height ; even in the wild state it does 
not exceed five feet in height. According to Forrest the 
flowers vary in shade from deep rose to crimson scarlet 
and as grown in this country it provides brilliant patches 
of colour. It has proved easy to grow and has the 
advantage of thriving well in more open spaces than the 
Indian species whose flowers are of the same rich colour. 
ft. neriiflorum belongs to a group of species in the section 
Hurhododendron characterised by their smooth eglandular 
leaves. Among these it is readily distinguished by the — 
pinkish glaucous, finely reticulate under surface of the 
leaves, the crimson calyx, and the glabrous filaments. 
It does not appear to be closely related to any other 
Chinese species, and is only remotely allied to the Sikkim 
£t. Thomsoni, Hook. f., figured at t. 4997 of this work. 
In R. Thomsoni the corolla is of the same colour, and the 
under surface of the leaves has the same glaucous bloom, 
but the leaves in the Sikkim plant are cordate at the 
base and more orbicular in outline, while the ovary is 
quite smooth, not hairy as in R. neriiflorum. 
Description.—Shrub, loosely branched, up to 5 ft. hi h; twi lish, 
glabrous, nearly cylindric, about 2 in, thick in their eset cd 
scattered, long stalked, oblong, rounded and bluntly apiculate at the tip, base 
truncate or occasionally shortly cuneate, 3-4 in. long, 1-13 in. wide, firmly 
coriaceous, bright-green above, glaucous-green beneath, glabrous; midrib slightly 
sunk above, raised beneath and then near the base rounded and about 3 in. 
wide; lateral nerves about 12 on each side of the midrib, slender, fiexuous, 
becoming indistmet near the leaf margin; reticulation fine and rather visible 
beneath ; petiole red-purple, 2-3 in. long, at first finely scurfy-puberulous, soon 
glabrous. Flowers in-a nearly terminal, rather racemose, usually 8-flowered 
truss; outer bud-scales obovate, cuspidately acuminate, scurfy-puberulous ; 
inner oblong to linear, silky tomentose; pedicels about } in. long, shortly 
tomentose, Calyx up to 2 in. long, glabrous outside, unequally lobed; lobes 
purple, shortly ciliate. Corolla pinkish-purple, tubular, 5-lobed ; tube glabrous, 
saccate at the base and there with a ring of purple patches, 3-1 in. long, about 
7 in. across at the top; lobes 5, deeply emarginate, rounded, about % in. long. 
Stamens 10, rather shorter than the corolla; filaments flattened, glabrous ; 
anthers deep-purple, } in. long. Ovary 5-6-celled, yellow tomentose, conical ; 
style about as long as the corolla, finely tomentose towards the base. Fruit 
unknown, 
Tas. 8727.—Fig. 1, tip of leaf; 2, calyx and ovary: 8, corolla, laid open ; 
4, part of base of corolla-tube; 5 and 6, sinning? 7: stigina ; 8, transverse 
section of ovary :—all enlarged, 
