r- 



IRISH GARDENING 



with mostly small solitary whittj flowers aiul 

 narrow linear leaves; the branches are grey 

 when young, afterwards becoming brown. It 

 has no extravagant claims as a decorative shrub, 

 but is an interesting member of the rose family 

 discovered in China by Mr. William Purdom. 



Ceanothus rigidus was in flower early in the 

 month, and was still in good form at the time 

 of writing The stiff branches are thickly 

 clothed with clusters of purplish blue flowers 

 so freely produced as to almost hide the leaves. 

 The small leaves are toothed at the apex, and 

 in this differ from the form said to be the type 

 described by Nuttall which came here from 

 Miss Willmott's collection. A very conspicuous 

 tree at the present time is Prunus cornuta, the 

 Himala_yan Bird Cherry. The leaves just now 

 are of a lovely bronze hue quite conspicuous 

 among the other green-leaved and leafless 

 sjjecies near by. It Mall shortl^^ produce spikes 

 of flowers much like those of the comixion 

 Bird Cherry. 



Lonicera tatarica rosea is worthy of mention 

 if oifly because it succeeds with but indifferent 

 treatment, and is a useful early flowering 

 slu'ub to plant in a rough corner where it will 

 take care of itself and produce abundance of 

 ])ink flowers. Eaphiolepis Delacouri is allied to 

 li. japonica and is now bearing spikes of pink 

 flowers. It promises to be a useful evergreen 

 with fjood flowei's when it has attained some 



size. 



Glasnevin. 



J. W. B. 



Notes. 



Rhododendron cuneatum * 

 (W. W. Smith). 



This species is a stiff shrubby, plant, from three 

 to five feet high. Its foliage buds are not 

 conspicuous until after flowering. Leaves 

 leathery dark green above, with a tawny grey 

 mat beneath. 



The flowers are produced in solitary terminal 

 three-flowered umbels, though occasionally 

 only one or two flowered, of a rose lavender 

 colour. The tube is somewhat funnel-shaped, 

 the outside bearing pilose lepidote, small, far 

 scattered scales. 



Stamens ten, shorter than the corolla; the 

 style being reddish purple and pilose at the 

 base. The foliage seems to be variable in 

 character, as well as the colouring of its flowers. 



As a garden plant this species is very hardy, 

 and by no means fastidious in regard to soil or 

 position ; it was collected by Forrest on the 



* See illustration, page 55, last issue. 



nuu-gins of pine forests on the eastern flank of 

 the Ijichiang Eange, at an altitude of 12,000 

 feet.— R. L. H. 



Chinese Rhododendrons. 



The accompanying illustration shows the north- 

 east face of the great Lichiang Eange in China, 

 and is of interest to gardeners as showing the 

 native habitat of some of the Ehododendrons 

 recently introduced to . this country. In our 

 last issue we illustrated Eh. cueatum from 

 a photograph taken in China by Mr. George 

 Forrest — a brief description of that species is 

 given in the present issue. Among other 

 species which have flowered, or are flowering, 

 we may mention Eh. Davidsonianvim, Eh. pol^'- 

 lepis, Eh. Hanceanum with pink, purple and 

 white flowers respectively. 



Prunus Dasycarpa. 



In the early daj's of March this small tree 

 was most attractive, and has never before 

 flowered in such lavish profusion. The leaf- 

 less branches were thickly clothed with large 

 pure white flowers, the effect from a distance 

 being very fine. It appears to be little known 

 in • this country outside botanic gardens, and 

 would probably be difficult to obtain except 

 from a continental nursery. In foreign cata- 

 logues it may be found listed as the Plumcot, 

 an allusion to its supposed origin as a hybrid 

 between the plum and apricot. When happier 

 days return it is to be hoped that our home 

 nurserymen Mill make an effort to enlarge 

 their collections so as to include many of the 

 beautiful trees and shrubs which hitherto have 

 had to be obtained from France and Germany. 



Prunus Pseudocerasus Watereri- 



This remarkable and 'handsome double cherry 

 has been referred to in Irish Gardening every 

 spring for several years past. This j^ear it is 

 again a mass of its soft pink blossoms, and the 

 plants in the Eoyal Botanic Gardens at Glas- 

 nevin are a source of great attraction to visitors. 

 Waterer's variety is one of the best, but New 

 Eed obtained from France before the war is 

 apparently of the same habit, but M'ith deeper 

 coloured flowers. 



That fine Japanese cherry often called J. 

 H. Veitch has been shown by Mr. Bean of 

 Kew to belong to Prunus serrulata, and not 

 to P. pseudocerasus as often supposed. It is 

 properly called, therefore, P. serrulata Veitchi- 

 ana, and is a beautiful plant M'hen in flower 

 bearing masses of rose-pink floM'ers. 



