8o6 RHODOTYrOS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



protected from the hot sun that the leaves 

 enjoy. The compost should consist mainly 

 of good loam, to which a small proportion 

 of peat may be added, and which should 

 be free from calcareous matter. Syn. 

 Rhododetidron cJianicecistiis. 



RHODOTYPOS ( White Jew's Mallow). 

 — R. Kerrioides is a summer-leafing shrub 

 from Japan, with a growth and foliage 

 recalling the familiar old Jew's Mallow 

 on cottage-walls, but with white flowers. 

 It is of slender growth, but makes a 

 vigorous bush when well grown, and is 

 usually 5 or 6 ft. high, though against a 

 wall it reaches a height of lo or 12 ft. 

 It flowers in May, and keeps in bloom a 

 considerable time. 



RHUS {Sumach). — Low trees, shrubs, 

 or climbers, with an acrid juice, usually 

 hardy, and remarkable for their elegant 

 and picturesque growth, and often bril- 

 liantly coloured leaves in autumn. Such 

 good qualities as they have are rarely 

 shown in our gardens, where they are 

 indeed often absent save one or two of 



Rhus copall 



the commoner kinds, and these never 

 grouped or shown in any right way, but 

 perhaps half starved in the conventional 

 muddleofthe shrubbery. Several kinds are 

 poisonous, and should not be planted near 

 the house, and, if used at all, should be 

 handled with great care, as accidents are 

 frequent to unsuspecting admirers. Their 

 poisonous character is well known and 

 feared in their native countries. The 

 Sumachs are not difficult as to soil or 

 cultivation, thriving in ordinary garden 

 soils, and rather enjoying poor and dry 

 soils, some of them being suitable, there- 

 fore, for grouping on dry banks where 

 little else will grow. They may be in- 



creased by root cuttings, layers, and also 

 by seed. 



R. CANADENSIS {Fragrant Sumach). — A 

 hardy shrub with trifoliate leaves, a native of 

 rocky woods in Canada and New England, 

 and through Eastern America, especially along 

 the mountains. It has pale yellow flowers in 

 short dense clusters, formed in autumn but 

 flowering in spring before the leaves appear. 

 Very useful for dry rocky banks, where it 

 spreads prettily. The variety trilobata has 

 the leaflets more deeply cut. Syn. R. aro- 

 )iiati(a. 



R. COPALI.INA {Mountain Sumach). — A 

 shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves of 

 smooth glossy texture, turning a fine colour in 

 autumn in its own country, as they probably 

 would in ours in full sun in warm soil. New 

 England, Canada, and southward and west- 

 ward. 



R. COTINOIDES {American Smoke Tree). — A 

 small tree with oval leaves, and somewhat like 

 our European kind, but really better, with 

 larger and thinner leaves, taking also a fine 

 colour in autumn, of a beautiful scarlet, . 

 suffused with orange and crimson. A native 

 of Missouri, Indian territory and eastwards. 

 It should be planted in dry, warm soil and 

 sunny positions. 



R. COTINUS ( Venetian Sumach). — A beauti- 

 ful and distinct shrub, long cultivated though 

 not always well placed, the simple leaves 

 taking a fine colour in autumn and the curious 

 inflorescence giving a very pretty effect. 

 There is a purple variety which is an improve- ' 

 ment, and a pendulous variety less important. 

 The Venetian Sumach looks very well as a 

 group in a sunny open situation. Southern 

 and Central Europe, and the East. 



R. GLABRA {Scarlet Sumach). — A distinct 

 very hardy, bushy kind, with smooth rather 

 small leaves, thriving in any poor dry soil, the 

 leaves taking a very brilliant colour in autumn. 

 Var. lacitiiata is very distinct, the leaflets 

 longer and of much greater breadth than in 

 R. glabra itself, but they are cut up into 

 narrow pinnate segments, combinmg the beauty 

 of the finest Grevillea with that of a Fern- 

 frond. When unfolding they remind one of a 

 finely-cut umbelliferous plant in spring ; when 

 fully grown the midribs are red ; and in 

 autumn the leaves glow oft' into a bright colour 

 after the fashion of American shrubs. The 

 wild plant is much rarer in cultivation than the 

 cut-leaved variety. 



R. OsBECKii. — A fine kind from China and 

 Japan, with pinnate leaves much finer than 

 the others, striking foliage, also turning in 

 good seasons and warm soils a good orange 

 colour in autumn. This is one of the kinds 

 that might be cut down annually where plenti- 

 ful, so as to get the fine effect of the foliage on 

 Ihe young vigorous stems. 



R. RADiCANS {Poison Ivy). — A distinct 

 woody climber very common in the North 

 American hedgerows and copses and also up 

 trees. Its leaves give it somewhat the character 

 of a Virginian Creeper, and some unprincipled 



