RHODOCHITON. 



266 



BHODODEITDRON. 



"when they may be permitted to 

 flower. A plant which had been 

 treated in this manner, and which 

 was given to me by Captain Mangles, 

 measured a foot and a half high and 

 four feet in circumference ; it had 

 above a thousand blossoms on it 

 expanded at one time, and it con- 

 tinued producing a succession of 

 flowers from August to the middle 

 of November. 



Rhodi'ola. — Crassulacece. — 

 Eose-root. — There are only two spe- 

 cies of this genus, one of which is a 

 British plant, strongly resembling 

 the House-leek, with a thick fleshy 

 root, smelling so much like a Rose 

 as to have given the name to the 

 genus. The flowers are yellow and 

 terminal. The plant is a perennial, 

 and should be grown in a moist 

 situation on rock-work. 



PiODOCHi'TOX. — Scrophuldrince. 

 — R. xoluhile, formerly called Lo- 

 oihospermuni Rhodochiton, is a 

 ]\Iexican climbing plant, with abund- 

 ance of very handsome flowers. It 

 was at first kept in the greenhouse, 

 but it is now found to flourish most 

 in the open air, as it will not flower 

 well when its roots are confined. It 

 should be planted in spring, in a pit 

 about two feet square, formed in the 

 open border, and filled with loamy 

 soil, enriched with leaf-mould or 

 rotten manure. As the plant grows, 

 a little leaf-mould may be added 

 from time to time over the roots ; 

 and the plant must be trained up a 

 wire-frame, or against a conser^^a- 

 tive wall. When it has done flower- 

 ing, it should be cut down to Mithin 

 a few inches of the ground, and 

 covered with tan or saw-dust, and a 

 l)ot turned over it, the hole in the 

 pot being stopped up to exclude the 

 rain ; or, what is better, the plant 

 may be wrapped in moss and thus 

 protected. The species is propa- 

 gated by cuttings struck in spring 



or autumn, or by seeds sown on a 



hotbed in February and planted out 



in May. When wanted for a bal- 



' cony or greenhouse, it may be grown 



\ in a pot, all that need be attended 



to being to grow the plant in good 



soil, and to allow it plenty of room 



\ for its roots, 



Rhodode'ndron. — Ericacece. — 

 The Rose Bay. — WeU-known ever- 

 ' green shrubs and low trees, with 

 : splendid flowers ; which are gene- 

 j rally grown in sandy peat, kept 

 I rather moist. The hardy Rhodo- 

 ! dendrons are mostly either natives 

 j of America, or hybrids raised in 

 i this country' from them ; and hence, 

 I the part of the garden in which 

 they are grown is generally called 

 { the American ground, and they are 

 classed with Azaleas, Kalmias, and 

 other plants of similar habit of 

 growth. Many kinds of Rhododen- 

 dron are, however, from the East, 

 and one of these, R. 'p^nticum, is 

 quite hardy, and hybridises freely 

 with the American kinds. Of these 

 1 last, R. maximum, in America, at- 

 tains the height of twelve or fifteen 

 feet, but in England it neither 

 grows nor flowers freely. The leaves 

 are of a pale yellowish green, and 

 they generally look drooping, as 

 though the plant wanted water. It 

 is remarkable, that it was twenty 

 years in England before it produced 

 a single flower. In its native coun- 

 try it is always found growing upon 

 rocks near water ; and it would 

 ' probably thrive in a similar situa- 

 tion in this country. R. catawbiense 

 is a hardy American species, which 

 flowers abundantly from June till 

 August. It seldom grows above 

 four feet high, but it forms a healthy- 

 looking bush, perfectly covered over 

 with flowers. The hybrids between 

 this species and the Nepal tree Rho- 

 dodendron are very handsome. Of 

 the tree Rhododendrons, the old 



