Genus RHODODENDRON, Linn. 
Ericaceae. 
Syst. Nat. 
Penta-Decandria Monogynia. 
Syst. Lin. 
Synonymes. 
Rhododendron, Rhododendrum, Rhodora, j q f a uthors> 
Chamcerhododendros, Azalea, 
Rhododendron, 
Alpbalsam, 
Rododendro, 
Rhododendron, Rose Bay-tree, 
France. 
Germany. 
Spain and Italy. 
Britain and Anglo- America. 
Derivations. The word Rhododendron is derived from the Greek rhodon, a rose, and dendron, a tree, having reference to 
the terminal bunches of flowers, which are red, or rose-colour, in many of the plants of this genus. 
Generic Characters. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla somewhat funnel-shaped, 5-cleft. Stamens 5 10. Anthers 
opening by terminal pores. Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, opening at the tip. Don, Miller's Diet. 
F all the genera in existence, the Rhododendron, including the 
Azaleas, comprises the most handsome, the most elegant, and the 
most showy shrubs which grace the lawns and shrubberies of 
both hemispheres. Although these plants are cultivated in Europe 
and America almost exclusively for ornament, yet, from their 
stimulant and even deleterious properties, in many parts of the 
globe where they grow wild, they are not without their other uses. Thus, the 
Rhododendron ponticum, maximum, ferrugineum, and the Rhododendron chrys- 
anthum are poisonous to cattle which feed on their leaves ; and yet, they are 
used in moderate doses in medicine, for the cure of rheumatism, &c. The former 
was known to the ancient inhabitants of Pontus, who were well acquainted with 
the poisonous qualities of its flowers, which had such influence on the honey 
of that country, that the Romans would not receive it in tribute, but obliged the 
Greeks to pay them a double portion of wax in lieu of it. Both this rhododen- 
dron and the Azalea pontica were abundant in the neighbourhood of Trebisond 
in the time of Xenophon, who reports that, when the army of ten thousand 
Greeks, in their celebrated retreat, approached that city, his soldiers, having 
eaten the honey which they found in the environs, were seized with a violent 
vomiting and purging, followed by a species of delirium, so severe, that those 
.east affected resembled drunken persons, and the others madmen. The ground 
was strewed about with bodies of the soldiers, as it is after a battle. No one 
died, however, and the malady disappeared in twenty-four hours after it had 
commenced, leaving only a sensation of great weakness. According to Mr. 
Ptoyle, the Himalayan species, Rhododendron arboreum, is more remarkable for 
its uses as a timber-tree ; but its flowers are eaten by the hill people, and are 
formed into a jelly by European visitors. The leaves of the Rhododendron cam- 
panulatum, being used as a snuff by the natives of India, are imported from 
Cashmere, under the names of hoolas-kasmeeree, (Cashmere snuff,) and burg-i- 
Hbbut, (Thibet leaf,) though easily procurable within the British territories. 
And it is not a little remarkable that the American aborigines employ the dust 
which adheres to the petioles of the kalmias and rhododendrons for a similar 
purpose. 
The shrubs and trees of the genus Rhododendron, are usually evergreen, but 
in the azalea division they are almost entirely deciduous, with quite entire alter- 
nate leaves, terminated by a withered tip, or yellow gland; and with terminal, 
rorymbose, showy flowers. They may all be cultivated in sandy peat, kept 
rathe'* moist, and propagated by layers, seeds, or by cuttings. 
