between the species described by Mr. Franchet and that 
now described as R. serotinum. The latter is of long and 
straggling growth, a feature so marked in one of the two 
healthy plants grown in the Himalayan House at Kew, 
that it admits of being trained up one of the pillars 
which support the roof. This character, the fact that 
the leaves are unequally cordate at the base, and the 
circumstance that the corolla outside is beset with many 
bottle-shaped glands are marks that at once distinguish 
RR. serotinum from R. decorum. From R. Fortunei, Lindl., 
another close ally and a member of the same natural 
group, . serotinum differs especially by its hairy 
filaments. From both species mentioned £. serotinum 
may be distinguished by its blotched corolla, an unusual 
feature in the group to which all three belong. Out of 
doors /. serotinum was grown for a number of years in 
the Rhododendron Dell at Kew, and appeared to be 
perfectly hardy. But save when in flower it was 
principally remarkable for its gaunt sparsely branched 
habit, and when the stem was at last broken off at 
ground-level during a gale, the plant was not replaced. 
If space can be found for it in a collection it nevertheless 
is not unworthy of a place, for the flowers are handsome 
and delightfully fragrant, and they exhibit one feature 
that cannot but appeal to growers of Rhododendrons. 
Even under the protection of the Himalayan House the 
species does not begin to flower until well into August, 
and continues to produce blossoms from then till the 
end of October. In the Kew plants the leaves exhibit 
three or four parallel impressions on each side of the 
midrib, perhaps the consequence of their disposition in 
the bud stage. 
DEscriPTion.—Shrub, up to 10 ft. high ; branches long and lax; other twigs 
yellowish-brown, smooth, polished ; young shoots green, polished, marked with 
minute pale lenticels. Leaves oblong-elliptic, base slightly and unequally 
cordate, apex rounded, retusely mucronate, 4-6 in. long, 1}-13' in. wide, 
glabrous, dull green above, glaucous-green beneath, conspicuously reticulated 
and finely papillose, the papillae very short, suborbicular, not quite in contact 
along the veinlets but dense and crystalline between the veinlets; lateral 
nerves about 15 on each side of the midrib, from which they diverge at an angle 
of 90°, much branched towards the leaf-margin, distinct on the under surface ; 
petiole 3-1} in. long, glabrous, nearly cylindric, about in. thick. Inflorescence 
shortly racemose, terminal, 7-8-flowered ; axis 1} in. long, minutely glandular- 
papillose ; bracts pilose externally; pedicels 1}-1? in. long, } in. thick, pale 
straw-coloured and flushed with’ rose, minutely glandular-papillose. Calyx 
