[Crown Copyright Reserved. 



ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 



BULLETIN 



OF 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATIOK 



N"o. 6] 



[1914 



XXXV.-GARDEN NOTES ON NEW TREES AND 



SHRUBS. 



i 



W^ J. Beak, 



(With Plates.) 



XVIII.— NEW RHODODENDRONS. 



Rhododendron auriculatum, Ilemsley. 



In some respects this is one of the most remarkable of the new 



Chinese rhododendrons. 



Hen 



about twenty-five years ago, and he notes that it grew 20 to 30 ft. 



high. Wilson 



^ 



It is remark- 



able for its late growth and flower. At Kew it never starts to 

 grow until July, and Wilson collected it in flower in China 

 during August. The finest plants in cultivation are at Caerhays 

 and some of them were carrying flowerbuds last spring. On our 

 young plants at Kew the leaves are very large, in fact the largest 



£?rown 



sionally over 1 ft. long and 4 to 5 ins. wide. They are oblong, with 

 two auricles at the base, hairy beneath (especially when young 

 and near the midrib), of leathery texture. Young shoots, petioles 

 and pedicels bristly. Flowers pale rose, funnel-shaped, 3 to 4 ins. 

 deep, scarcely so wide, six to eight in a truss. Corolla seven-Iobed, 

 bristly outside ; stamens about fourteen, with glabrous filaments ; 

 style oxserted, glandular. Fruit very large, 1^ ins. long, ^ in. 

 thick. The scales that accompany the young growth are 

 glandular and of a lurid crimson. 



Although the foliage probably will not be of such striking size 

 when the plants are fully grown, the species is worth growing for 

 this and its late flowers. It may also prove useful to hybridisers 

 in developing a later-flowering race of rhododendrons than any 



we have. 



Rhododendron crassum, Franchet. 



Originally found by Delavay in Yunnan nearly thirty years 

 ago, this species was first introduced to cultivation by Mr. G. 

 Forrest for Mr. Bulley. It has recently flowered with Mr. E; 



(3343.) Wt.225-595. 1,125. 8/H. J.T.&S. G. U. 



