94 GARDEN FLOWEKS. 



pretty plant called Chinese honeysuckle, and 

 the gold and silver honeysuckles, are much 

 more tender. They are natives of China, and 

 are among the many flowers on which the 

 Japanese bestow so much regard. _ The bark 

 of most of the species is very astringent, and 

 that of one kind is used in China for dyeing 

 black. 



The French term the honeysuckle maire 

 sauvage. Its old English names were suckling 

 and caprifoly ; and with the Germans this 

 climber is so great a favourite, that they have 

 bestowed upon it at least a dozen familiar 

 names. Caprifolium is a poetic word used for 

 it by old botanists, because the leaf, or rather 

 stem, climbs over the high places where the 

 goat fears not to tread. It must be confessed 

 that this origin is rather remote ; but the word 

 chevre feuille, (goat leaf,) by which the pea- 

 santry of France often call the plant, has the 

 same origin. 



And now those handsome plants the rose 

 bay or rhododendrons, come into blossom, and 

 deck both garden and shrubbery with their 

 handsome flowers and hard evergreen leaves. 

 Numerous kinds blossom during this and the 

 coming month, but by far the greater number 

 are varieties of the common species, {^Rhodo- 

 dendron Ponticum,) which is found wild on the 

 coasts of the Black Sea, from the range of 

 Caucasus through Armenia and Georgia to the 

 western parts of Persia. This species grows in 

 moist woods, but not on higli mountains, a;v;l 



