172 PITTONIA. 



indicate a hybrid origin. It is found most commonly in beds 

 of A. itva-ursi witli plenty of tomentosa near by, and is easily 

 distinguished from uva-nrsi by its larger size, merely pro- 

 cumbent (not prostrate) habit, and paler foliage," I have 



r> ^ " -^o 



M 



Kuapp, who collected them somewhere near the coast, in 

 Washington, some three years since. These twigs, at the 

 firne of my receiving them, seemed to me to indicate an 

 unknown species. 



w 

 W 



Ehododendron (Azalea) Sonojiense. Near E. occidenMe 



but every way smaller : leaves small, somewhat elliptical, 

 1 iuch long or less, more or less pubescent, aud, on the mar- 

 gin serrulate-ciliolate: flowers rose-colored and sweet-scented, 

 one or two of the segments of the corolla with a narrow- 

 elliptical deep salmon-colored spot in the middle. 



Frequent, bat mostly on dry slopes away from the streams, 

 in tlie mountains of Sonoma Co., California, from Mount 

 Saint Helena to the neighborhood of Petaluma ; everywhere 

 recognized by amateurs" and florists as soraethiHg quite 

 diflferent from the ordinary Californian Azalea., and no doubt 

 specifically distinct, though hard to distinguish in the her- 

 barium, by other marks than the small size, and pink color 

 of the flowers. In R. occideafale, though the corolla-tabe 

 reddens in drying, the fresh flowers are pure white, except 

 the yellow spot on the odd segment ; they are nearly twice 

 as large as in R. Sonomense, and are noted as exhaling what 

 greatly detracts from their desirability, a faintly mephitic 

 odor. This scent is strong enough to render the air quite 

 other than balmy near where they grow. The new and 

 little known shrub, avoiding the shades and stream-banks, 

 grows on the open dry slopes, and unfolds its deep piuk 

 corollas without yielding a trace of other tlian pleasant 

 fragrance; and the flowers are very often hexnmerous ; in 

 this case two of the six segments have the beautiful elongated 

 salmon-colored spot; and these flowers greatly resemble 

 those of the f.amiliar large flowered pelargoniums. I infer, 



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