1414 



RHODODENDRON* Alta-clerense. 



The Highclere Rhododendron. 



DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat.ord. EiiiCE/^ Juss. {Introduction to the natural system of Botany, 

 p. 182.) 



RHODODENDRON.—Snpra, vol. I. fol. 37. 



Garden Variety. 



We have on several occasions lately presented our 

 readers with figures of hybrid Azaleas of great beauty 

 raised at Highclere, the seat of the Earl of Caernarvon. 

 Lovely as those were, their ornamental character is almost 

 as nothing compared with the subject of this account, in 

 which everything of beauty that a plant can possess seems 

 collected, fragrance alone being wanting. With a clear 

 transparent crimson colour, rendered still more bright by 

 a few distinct spots of a darker hue, are combined a fine 

 bold outline, a great breadth of surface, and the utmost 

 symmetry ; while the deep rich green of the magnificent 

 foliage forms a back-ground in the most perfect harmony 

 with the lively tints of the blossoms. 



The history of the creation of this superb plant deserves 

 to be particularly described, as it not only shews how great 

 the power of man is over nature, but holds out to us a 

 prospect of the most gratifying kind in regard to the future 

 gayness of our Gardens. 



Rhododendron arboreum is, as is well known, an Indian 



* Well may this be called the Tree of Roses (p«Sov, a rose, and ^'i>\af, a 

 tree), if we picture to ourselves a plant, twenty or thirty feet high, covered 

 with blossoms of such lively colours as those represented in the accompanying 

 Rgure. Alta-Clera is the name of Highclere in Domesday Book, and in 

 ancient writinffs. 



