RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON. 677 



its stems being of. a grey colour with the 

 bark peeling off. A hybrid between it 

 and Hookeri called Kewense (raised at 

 Kew in 1874) has flowers of a pale flesh 

 colour, not so large as those of Auckland!, 

 but more numerous in the truss. There 

 is also a very pretty hybrid known as 

 Aucklandi hybridum, which is hardy in 

 the London district ; its flowers are pure 

 white. Syn. R. Griffithianum. 



R. BARBATUM is described as being in a 

 wild state 40 to 60 feet high ; I have 

 seen it about 12 feet high in Cornwall. 

 The leaves are 5 to 7 inches long, with 

 flowers of a rich blood-red colour borne 

 in a compact truss 4 inches or more 

 in diameter. There are many seedling 

 forms of R. barbatum, one with fleshy-pink 

 flowers being especially good. 



R. CAMPANULATUM. Among the har- 

 diest of the Himalayan species, flowering 

 in April and forming a widely spreading 

 bush. The leaves are coated beneath with 

 a brightly-coloured reddish felt, and the 

 flowers are pale purple, changing to nearly 

 white. 



R. CAMPYLOCARPUM is closely allied to 

 the preceding, and it is of similar habit, 

 but the flowers are pale yellow, borne in a 

 loose truss and scented like honey. 



R. CILIATUM. A bushy plant which 

 thrives well in sheltered positions near 

 London. Its leaves are densely covered 

 with hairs when young, less so as they 

 get older ; the flowers are borne loosely 

 in small trusses, rosy white on opening, 

 whiter with age. It has been used for 

 hybridisation, and amongst others R. 

 PYCBCOX and Rosy Bell have been raised 

 from it. 



R. CINNABARINUM. In " The Flora of 

 British India " this name is made to 

 include what have previously been known 

 as R. Roylei and R. blandfordicBflorum. 

 The species is, indeed, a most variable 

 one, having flowers of a brick-red, rich 

 crimson, or sometimes greenish colour. 

 They are all distinguished by the long 

 narrow corolla, resembling a Lapageria. 



R. FALCONERI. A noble kind thriving 

 in Cornish gardens, with oblong leaves 

 about 10 inches long, coated beneath with 

 reddish down, dark green, slightly downy 

 and curiously wrinkled above. The 

 flowers are of a curious shade of creamy 

 white tinged with lilac towards the base. 

 R. eximium is a fine variety of this, 

 differing in its bright pink flowers and 

 the thicker reddish brown fluff on the 

 upper surface of the leaves. 



R. FORMOSUM. There are two very 

 distinct varieties of this in cultivation 

 the one has narrow leaves, in shape and 

 size almost like those of an Indian Azalea ; 

 the other has them many times larger, 

 obovate, and 5 inches long. Both have 



the margins ciliated. The flowers are in 

 each variety white, although in the bud 

 stage quite rosy pink. They are about 



3 inches wide and as much in depth. R. 

 Gibsoni and R. Johnstoni are forms of 

 this species, differing chiefly in the larger 

 leaves. 



R. FULGENS. One of the hardiest and 

 rarest of Himalayan Rhododendrons, 

 blooming out of doors early in March, 

 and not always escaping the damaging 

 spring frosts, but if it does, it is the most 

 brilliantly coloured shrub flowering at 

 that time. The flowers are in compact 

 rounded trusses about 4 inches across, a 

 bright blood - red, the leaves coated 

 beneath with a rusty felt. The true plant 

 has been grown outside for many years 

 in the Rhododendron dell at Kew, and it 

 has never been injured by frost, nor does 

 it ever fail to set abundance of bloom. 

 Himalayas, at elevations of 12,000 feet to 

 14,000 feet. 



R. HODGSONI. A spreading shrub or 

 small tree, rarely more than 12 feet high, 

 the stout leaves upwards of i foot long, 

 covered beneath with a grey tomentum, 

 the upper side a bright shade of green, 

 and flowers are of a pale rose-purple. It 

 is hardy in both the Welsh and Cornish 

 gardens. 



R. HOOKERI. A native of Bhotan, and 

 on the Oola Mountain this is said to form 

 entire thickets accompanied by Pinus 

 excelsa. The leaves are oblong or oval, 



4 inches long and glaucous beneath, the 

 flowers of a bright red. 



R. KEYSI. A curious species, with 

 flowers more like those of a Correa, brick- 

 red, about i inch long, the lobes of the 

 tubular corolla being almost straight. 



R. LANATUM. The young branches, 

 both surfaces of the leaves, and the 

 petioles are covered with a dull white 

 or tawny tomentum ; the sulphur-yellow 

 flowers are 2 inches across. 



R. MADDENI. A shrub 8 to 10 feet 

 high, with bright green lanceolate leaves. 

 The corolla is pure white, bell-shaped, and 

 about 3 inches across the mouth. It is 

 known also as R. Jenkinsi. R. calophyllum 

 is practically the same thing, but a dis- 

 tinction is founded on the shorter calyx 

 lobes and much smaller seed vessels. 



R. NIVEUM. One of the hardiest species, 

 but far from the most showy, the young 

 leaves being covered with, a white tomen- 

 tum, the upper surface afterwards becom- 

 ing deep green and glabrous, the purplish 

 lilac flowers close in a small head. 



R. THOMSONI. The flowers of this 

 species, of a fine red, are borne in loose 

 trusses, hardy in the London district and 

 flowering in the early part of April ; the 

 leaves 3 to 4 inches long, very dark 



