HYDRANGEA. 257 



HYDRANGEA, or CHINESE GUELDER- 

 ROSE. Hydrangea Hortemis, 



Natural Order Succulent(E. Saxifrage, Juss. A 

 Genus of the Decandria Digynia Class. 



"Witness the sprightly joy, when aught unknown 

 Strikes the quick sense, and wakes each active pow'r 

 To brisker measures. 



Akenside. 



Few flowers ever excited greater interest than the 

 Hydrangea produced on its first introduction into 

 Europe ; nor do we remember an instance of any 

 tender plant having become common in so short a 

 period. The extraordinary size of the cymes of 

 the flowers which this plant produces, even when 

 confined in a small pot of earth, was a novelty alone 

 sufficient to recommend it to every collector of 

 exotic flowers. When it first became known in 

 Paris, it was so eagerly sought after, and bore so 

 high a price, as to make the fortune of the florist 

 ■who had procured the first plants from England. 



In this country we have followed the Hydran- 

 gea from the stove to the green-house, and from 

 the green-house to the balconies of the wealthy and 

 the casements of the cottagers, with a rapidity that 



