204 



Szechuen up to altitudes of 8000 ft. It is apparently quite 

 hardy, and, from its neat close habit, should be useful for the 

 rock garden. 



« 



Rhododendron quinquefolium, Bisset S^- S, Moore. 



In its foliage this is one of the most distinct and striking of 

 the Azalea group of Rhododendron. It is a low, deciduous 

 shrub, probably never much more than 3 ft. high, its bifurcating 

 branches stiff, slender, quite glabrous, bearing the leaves nearly 

 always in terminal clusters of five radiating from a common 

 centre, the largest being obovate, 1| to 2 ins, long, the smallest 

 one-third the size. They are minutely ciliate and the midrib 

 beneath has, when young, a band of pubescence on each side, 

 reduced later quite to the base. In the young state the beauty 

 of the young leaves is enhanced by their tender green having a 

 purplish margin. !Flowers solitary or in pairs produced from 

 the terminal bud along with the new shoots about the end of 

 April. Corolla white or pinkish with yellowish spots on the 

 upper side, five-lobed, broadly funnel-shaped, about 2 ins. wide. 

 Calyx iivc-lobed, the lobes small, triangular, ciliate ; stamens ten, 

 hairy at the base, ovary and style glabrous; pedicel | to 1| ins. 



long. 



Hitherto this rhododendron has blossomed too sparingly to 



count for much as a flowering shrub, but its foliage is very attrac- 

 tive. Plants raised from seed, presented by Lord Eedesdale in 

 1896, flowered at Kew last spring. 



Rhododendron rotundifolium, David [/i?. orhiculare. Dene]. 



Wilson introduced this well marked specie^ during his second 

 journey to AVestern China in 1904. It was originally discovered 

 by the Abbe David more than twenty years before, and both 

 Henry and Pratt collected it. It is one of the rarest of Chinese 

 rhododendrons in cultivation, the finest examples being in 

 Mr. J. C. AVilliams' collection at Caerhays Castle. These, when 

 I saw them last April, were low, rather hemispherical bushes 

 about 5 ft. through, set with a few flower buds, and in perfect 

 health. There are three healthy, small plants at Kew, but the 

 species is evidently better adapted for the milder counties. It 

 has stout branchlets, glaucous and minutely glandular when 

 young. Leaves 2 to 4 ins. long, sometimes nearly orbicular, but 

 usually not so wide as long; they are rounded, with a small 

 mucro at the apex, cordate at the base with a very narrow sinus^ 

 the auricles s^ometimes slightly overlapping, glabrous, dull green 

 above, glaucous beneath; petiole, li to 2\ ins. long. Flowers in 

 a terminal truss of about eight to ten. Corolla widely cani- 

 panulate, 2 ins. across, rosy red, seven-lobed; calyx small; 

 stamens fourteen, included, their filaments smooth; style 

 glabrous; ovary slightly glandular; pedicels up to 2\ ins. long, 

 glabrous. 



In its nearly orbicular foliage, R. rot undi folium is very 

 distinct, the species most resembling it in this respect being 

 R. Sonliei and R. Thomsoni, but both these are very distinct in 

 having large calyces. . 



f 



