RHODODENDRON 347 



tapering at the base, dark green above, paler beneath, quite smooth on both 

 surfaces ; stalk ^ to I in. long. Flowers rich rosy purple, with crimson spots 

 on the upper side of the corolla, 2 to 2^ ins. across, produced twenty or more 

 together in a truss during May ; corolla bell-shaped, with five wavy lobes ; 

 stamens ten, shorter than the corolla, downy at the base ; calyx small, with 

 five short, broad lobes, the upper one often long-pointed ; ovary covered with 

 white down ; flower-stalk it to 2 ins. long, smooth. 



Native of California northwards to British Columbia ; introduced by 

 W. Lobb in 1850, but now rare in gardens. It may be considered as the 

 Western form of R. catawbiense, differing in its more erect growth, in having 

 more rosy tinted flowers, and smooth flower-stalks. The calyx-lobes 

 in catawbiense are also longer, more pointed, and triangular. It is quite 

 hardy at Kew. 



R. CALOPHYTUM, Franchet. 



An evergreen tree up to 50 ft. high ; branchlets clothed with a loose grey 

 floss when quite young. Leaves obovate to oblanceolate, abruptly slender- 

 pointed, narrowly wedge-shaped at the base ; 8 to 12 ins. long, i^ to 2^ ins. 

 wide ; perfectly smooth on both surfaces except for some white floss on the 

 midrib beneath when quite young. Flowers in trusses, 6 to 8 ins. across ; 

 corolla seven- or eight-lobed, 2 ins. wide, scarcely so deep, bell-shaped, white 

 or rosy with a dark blotch on the upper side. Flower-stalk i^ to i\ ins. long, 

 smooth ; calyx very small, with ovate lobes ; stamens short, sixteen to twenty, 

 not downy ; ovary smooth ; seed-pod I in. long by \ in. wide. 



Native of W. China and Thibet ; discovered by the Abbe David ; intro- 

 duced by Wilson in 1904. One of the noblest of Chinese rhododendrons. In 

 foliage it has some resemblance to R. sutchuenense, but that species has 

 larger flowers (3 ins. across), much shorter flower-stalks, and stamens downy 

 at the base. 



R. CAMPANULATUM, Don. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 3759.) 



An evergreen shrub of stiff, spreading habit, 6 to 12 ft. high, more in 

 diameter ; bark peeling ; young shoots smooth. Leaves oval, 3 to 5^ ins. long, 

 \\ to 2^ ins. wide ; abruptly tapering at the apex ; tapejing, rounded, or 

 slightly heart-shaped at the base ; smooth above, densely covered beneath 

 with a red-brown felt ; stalk ^ to I in. long, often reddish. Flowers rosy 

 purple of numerous shades, 2 ins. across, produced during April in rather 

 loose clusters about 4 in. wide. Corolla broadly bell-shaped, with five notched 

 lobes, the upper ones dark purple-spotted ; calyx downy, small and scarcely 

 lobed ; stamens ten, smooth or sometimes downy 'towards the base ; flower- 

 stalk about i in. long. 



Native of the interior Himalaya of Sikkim and Nepal ; introduced in 1825. 

 This is perhaps the hardiest and most satisfactory of Himalayan rhodo- 

 dendrons near London, where it flowers regularly and profusely. In very 

 cold weather (and it withstands uninjured thirty-two degrees of frost) its 

 leaves roll themselves up tightly, giving the shrub a very curious aspect. It 

 is very variable in the colour of the flowers, which are sometimes quite pale, 

 sometimes of a bright bluish purple, sometimes lilac ; in the amount of felt 

 at the back of the leaf ; and in the colour of the leaf-scales that accompany 

 the young bursting shoots, which are sometimes rich crimson, sometimes^ 

 green. One of the most distinct forms is 



Var. WALLICHII, Hooker fil. (Bot. Mag., t. 4929), in which the corolla is 

 not spotted, the leaf-scales and leaf-stalks are red, and there is very little felt 

 beneath the leaf. 



