Genus RHODODENDRON, Linn. 



Ericaceae. Penta-Dccandria Monogynia. 



Sysl. Nat. Hysl. Lin. 



Synonymes. 



Rhododendron, Rlwdodcndrum, Rhodora, ) q Authors 

 Chaincerhododendros, Azaka, ) 



Rhododendron, France. 



Alpbalsatn, Germany. 



Rododendro, Spain and Italy. 



Rhododendron, Rose Bay-tree, Britain and Anglo- America. 



Derivations. The word Rhododendron is derived from the Greek rhodon, a rose, and dendron, a tree, baring reference to 

 the terminal bunches of flowers, which are red, or rose-colour, in many of the plants of this genus. 



Generic Characters. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla somewhat funnel-shaped, 5-cleft. Stamens 5 10. Anthers 

 opening by terminal pores. Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, opening at the tip. Do7i, Miller's Diet. 



F all the genera in existence, the Rhododendron, including the 

 Azaleas, comprises the most handsome, the most elegant, and the 

 most showy shrubs which grace the lawns and shrubberies of 

 both hemispheres. Although these plants are cultivated in Europe 

 and America almost exclusively for ornament, yet, from their 

 stimulant and even deleterious properties, in many parts of the 

 globe where they grow wild, they are not without their other uses. Thus, the 

 Rhododendron ponticum, maximum, ferrugineum, and the Rhododendron chrys- 

 anthum are poisonous to cattle which feed on their leaves; and yet, they are 

 used in moderate doses in medicine, for the cure of rheumatism, fec. The former 

 was known to the ancient inhabitants of Pontus, who were well acquainted with 

 the poisonous qualities of its flowers, which had such influence on the honey 

 of that country, that the Romans would not receive it in tribute, but obliged the 

 Greeks to pay them a double portion of wax in lieu of it. Both this rhododen- 

 dron and the Azalea pontica were abundant in the neighbourhood of Trebisond 

 in the time of Xenophon, who reports that, when the army of ten thousand 

 Greeks, in their celebrated retreat, approached that city, his soldiers, having 

 eaten the honey which they found in the environs, were seized with a violent 

 vomiting and purging, followed by a species of delirium, so severe, that those 

 :east affected resembled drunken persons, and the others madmen. The ground 

 was strewed about with bodies of the soldiers, as it is after a battle. No one 

 died, however, and the malady disappeared in twenty-four hours after it had 

 commenced, leaving only a sensation of great weakness. According to Mr. 

 Royle, the Himalayan species. Rhododendron arboreum, is more remarkable for 

 its uses as a timber-tree ; but its flowers are eaten by the hill people, and are 

 formed into a jelly by European visitors. The leaves of the Rhododendron cam- 

 panulatum, being used as a snuff" by the natives of India, are imported from 

 Cashmere, luider the names of hoolas-kasmeeree, (Cashmere snuff",) and burg-i- 

 tibbiit., (Thibet lecf,) though easily procurable within the British territories. 

 And it is not a little remarkable that the American aborigines employ the dust 

 which adheres to the petioles of the kalmias and rhododendrons for a similar 

 purpose. 



The shrubs and trees of the genus Rhododendron, are usually evergreen, but 

 in the azalea division they are almost entirely deciduous, with quite entire alter- 

 nate leaves, terminated by a withered tip, or yellow gland; and with terminal, 

 corymbose, showy flowers. They may all be cultivated in sandy peat, kept 

 rather moist, and propagated by layers, seeds, or by cuttings. 



