340 



RHODODENDRON 



Pink Pearl, fine flower and splendid truss. 

 Princess Mary of Cambridge, rosy purple, 



white centre. 



Prometheus, red with black spots. 

 Sappho, white with maroon blotch. 



Sigiprmmd Rticker, magenta-crimson, much 



spotted. 



Snowflake, pure white. 

 St Simon, purplish crimson. 

 The Queen, blush, then white. 



Early Varieties. Flowering in early or mid April : Countess, altaclerense, arboreum 

 Wellsianum ; Handsworth early red ; Handsworth early white ; Rosa Mundi, Smithii 

 album, Russelianum, Caucasicum pictum, Nobleanum (from January to March), George 

 Cunningham (March). 



R. ADENOPODUM, Franchet. 



An evergreen shrub, 4 to 10 ft. high ; young shoots scurfy. Leaves leathery, 

 3 to 6 ins. long, oblong oblanceolate with an acute point, smooth above, but 

 covered beneath with a close white felt ; stalk \ to f in. long, felted. Flowers 

 pale rose, 2^ to 3 ins. across, produced in April, about half a dozen together 

 in rather loose terminal clusters ; corolla broadly bell-shaped, with five 

 rounded lobes ; stamens ten, as long as the corolla, hairy at the base ; flower- 

 stalks and seed-pods hairy ; calyx-lobes oblong, ciliate, \ to j in. long. 



Native of Central China ; introduced from Hupeh to France by the Abbe 

 Farges in 1901, and a year or two later by Wilson for Messrs Veitch. It 

 first flowered with Mr Maurice de Vilmorin at Les Barres in April 1909, 

 and since then at Caerhays. 



R. ALBIFLORUM, Hooker. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 3670 ; Azalea albiflora, 0. Kuntze.} 



A deciduous shrub, 5 or 6 ft. high in a wild state, the young shoots 

 furnished with short, dark hairs. Leaves narrowly oval, I to 2^ ins. long, 

 ^ to | in. wide ; tapering towards both ends, thin and smooth except that, 

 like the very short stalk, they are furnished when young on the midrib with 

 hairs similar to those on the stems. Flowers creamy white, f in. wide, 

 drooping, produced singly or in pairs from lateral buds on the growth of the 

 previous year during June and July, when the young shoots are in full leaf. 

 Corolla open bell-shaped, with five short, broad, rounded lobes ; calyx ^ in. 

 long, green, the lobes ovate and edged with glands ; stamens ten, shorter 

 than the corolla, hairy at the base ; flower-stalk ^ in. long, glandular-downy. 



Native of the Rocky Mountains, up to 6000 ft., from Oregon to British 

 Columbia. It is a pretty species, very distinct because of the large calyx, the 

 axillary flowers, and the dark hairs on the young wood like those of an azalea 

 of the " indica " group, only not so numerous and persistent. Young plants 

 are in the collection at Kew, but the species is very rare and is not, I think, 

 a thriving plant under cultivation. I have never been it in flower. 



R. AMBIGUUM, Hemsley. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 8400.) 



An evergreen shrub, probably 5 or 6 ft. high, of bushy habit ; young shoots 

 covered with pale yellow, glistening scales. Leaves aromatic, oval, sometimes 

 slightly obovate or ovate, \\ to 2| ins. long, to i^- ins. wide ; scattered along 

 the shoot, pointed, rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base ; dark green 

 and somewhat scaly above, paler and much more scaly beneath ; stalk to 

 $ in. long. Flowers produced in April and May in terminal trusses of five or 

 six blossoms. Corolla pale yellow with yellow-green spots on the upper side, 



