ON FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS. 249 



Rhododendron catawbiense, so called from its principal habitat 

 being near the head of the Catawba, is the most common American 

 species, and it is a great favourite, from its hardiness, and its 

 being an abundant flowerer. The hybrids raised between this 

 species and R. Aboreum, the Nepal tree rhododendron, are not 

 only very handsome, but they are much hardier than those rais- 

 ed between the Nepal species and R. ponticum ; and they stood 

 out without protection during the severe frost of 1837-8, when all 

 the hybrids raised from R. ponticum were killed. 



R. maximium is the tenderest of the American rhododendrons, 

 and the longest before it flowers. The plant also is not healthy 

 looking. It was introduced in 1736, but did not produce any 

 flowers in England till twenty years afterwards. There are two 

 varieties of this species, one with pure white, and the other with 

 fragrant flowers. Besides these there are several dwarf rhodo- 

 dendrons with leathery leaves, and small brilliant coloured 

 flowers. 



Some of our modern botanists include the azaleas in the genus 

 rhododendron ; and it is certain that the two kinds hybridise 

 freely together. The commoner kinds of azalea, A. pontica, A. 

 nudiftora, and A. viscosa, have produced almost innumerable hy- 

 brids, some of which are very beautiful. Rhodora canadensis, 

 another plant belonging to this order, is worth cultivating for the 

 earliness of its flowering. 



The Nepal rhododendrons, and the Indian and Chinese azaleas, 

 are very beautiful, but they require the protection of a green- 

 house. 



The kalmias are called by the Americans, Calico flowers ; a 

 name admirably adapted to express the peculiar appearance of the 

 flower, which is more like an artificial flower cut out of cambric, 

 muslin, or calico, than a real one. The different kinds of whor- 

 tleberry and cranberry, the heaths, and all the newly made genera 

 formerly comprised under the genus Erica, the Andromeda and 

 the Arbutus, complete the list of these plants, all of which are 

 splendid ornaments to the British gardens in June and July. In 

 some places the rhododendrons and azaleas have been sown in the 

 woods, as at High Clere and BagshotPark. At these places and 

 at Waterer's nursery at Knaphill near Bagshot, these plants in the 

 flowering season are completely a bla/e of beauty. The rhododen- 

 drons, grafted standard high in Waterer's nursery, so as to form 



Vol. VII. No. 81. gg 



