1130 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
The flowers are eaten by the hill people, and formed into a jelly by European 
visiters. The leaves of 2, campanulatum, being used as a snuff by the natives 
of India, are imported from Cashmere, under the names of hoolas-kasmeeree 
(Cashmere snuff) and burg-i-tibbut (Thibet leaf), though easily procurable 
within the British territories. It is remarkable that De Candolle mentions 
the employment in the United States, for a similar purpose, of the brown 
dust which adheres to the petioles of kalmias and rhododendrons. The 
leaves. of 2. lepiddtum (a species not yet introduced into Europe) are highly 
fragrant, and of a stimulant nature.” (J//ust., p. 219.) The culture of all the 
species is nearly the same: they all require peat earth, or, at least, thrive 
best in it; and some of them will not live without it. They may all be pro- 
pagated by cuttings of the growing shoots, planted in fine sand, and covered 
with a glass, or by layers; but the best plants of all the species are procured 
from seed. The varieties can, of course, only be continued by cuttings or 
layers ; and the stools for these require to be planted in beds of peat, which 
should be kept tolerably moist. The seeds, if ripened in this country, should 
be sown soon after gathering; and those imported from America, immediately 
on being received; because, though the seeds of all the Ericacez will retain 
the vital principle for several years (see p. 1100.), yet the longer they are 
kept out of the soil, the less likely they are to germinate, and the greater 
will be the risk of losing some of them. They should be sown in pots or 
boxes, or in a border shaded from the direct influence of the sun; and kept in 
a uniform state of moisture, and protected from the frost. In sowing, the 
surface of the soil should previously be made quite smooth, and gently pressed 
down, or watered till it has settled to a level surface; and, after the seeds 
have been equally distributed over this surface, they should be covered with 
no more soil than is barely requisite to conceal them from the eye. Seeds 
sown in autumn will germinate in the following spring, and be fit for transplant- 
ing into nursery lines or pots by the autumn, or by the spring of the following 
year. These directions will apply generally to all the species, but are more 
particularly applicable to those which are perfectly hardy. The culture of 
the half-hardy sorts will be noticed after describing them. 
Genus XX. 
BAAR 
Lb ii 
RHODODE’NDRON L. Tue RuopopenpRon, or RosE Bay. Lin. Syst. 
Penta-Decandria Monogynia. 
Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 548. ; Schreb. Gen., No. 746.; Gertn. Fruct., 1. p. 304 t. 63.; Juss. 
Gen., 158.; D. Don in Edinb. Phil. Journ. ; Prod. Fl. Nep., p. 152. ; Don’s Mill, 3. p. 843. 
Synonymes. Azalea sp. of authors; Rhoddra Lin, ; Chamerhododéndros Tourn. Inst., t. 373. ; 
Rhododendron, Fr., Ital.,and Span. ; Alpbalsam, Ger. 
Derivation. From rhodon, arose, and dendron, a tree; in reference to the terminal bunches of 
flowers, which are usually red, or rose-colour. 
Description, §c. Shrubs or trees, usually evergreen, but in the Azalea 
division almost entirely deciduous, with quite entire alternate leaves, termi- 
nated by a withered tip, or yellow gland; and terminal, corymbose, showy 
flowers. Cultivated in sandy peat, kept rather moist, and propagated by 
layers, seeds, or cuttings. Under this genus Professor D. Don has included 
the Azalea, which, however technically correct, appears to us injudicious 
in a practical point of view ; and, though we have followed his arrangement 
in this article, yet we have indicated two sections, containing the Indian 
or tender, and the Asiatic and American or hardy, azaleas, which those who 
cultivate extensive collections of these shrubs may, if they choose, consider 
as constituting the genus Azalea as heretofore. Such persons, therefore, 
may view the genus Azalea as remaining exactly as it is in our Hortus Bri- 
tannicus. 


