name in 1888, that of Decaisne has, with reason, been 
definitely adopted by Messrs. Rehder and Wilson. The 
species was first introduced to cultivation in this country 
by Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons from seed obtained for them 
by Mr. E. H. Wilson in 1904. It is, however, compara- 
tively rare in gardens, owing to the circumstance perhaps 
that it did not thrive very well at Coombe Wood, so that 
the stock in the country was for a time somewhat scanty. 
Two plants were obtained for Kew from the Coombe 
Wood nursery in 1908, and although they have proved 
hardy in so far that they have not been injured by 
winter cold, they have not thriven well. They have 
flowered occasionally, and have ripened seeds from which 
piants have been raised, but after ten years they still 
remain small and stunted. The species, however, is 
well adapted to the milder damp climate of the south- 
west of England, and in the collection of Me J, 
Williams at Caerhays Castle it forms rounded bushes 
over five feet through, many of which thrive well when 
given a rather open well-drained situation facing the 
east. The first plant to flower at Caerhays did so on 
April 20, 1910, and Mr. Williams, to whom we are 
indebted for the material for our plate from a plant that 
blossomed at Caerhays in 1914, regards R. orbiculare as 
one of the most remarkable of the Rhododendrons 
obtained by Mr. Wilson. “TI think,’ he writes, ‘ I would 
prefer to keep.a good plant of it if I were only to be 
allowed one of the whole family.” Mr. Williams, in the 
same letter, says, “‘ Wilson told me he found it with his 
glasses on the far side of a deep valley, and that it took him 
a day and a half’s journey to get there.” From Caerhays 
seeds of £2. orbiculare have been distributed freely, while 
the species has also been propagated there by the slower 
process of establishing cuttings. In addition to this 
LR. orbiculare has been crossed with A. discolor, Franch. ; 
the hybrids have flowered, and although no improvement 
on &. orbiculare they much resemble that parent and are 
more robust. The species is readily distinguished from 
other known Chinese ones by its suborbicular, deeply 
cordate leaves borne on unusually long petioles. Its 
nearest ally is R. Fargesii, Franch., figured at t. 8736 of 
this work, which differs mainly in its leaf characters. 
