TEMPERATE VEGETATION 31 



colour, and fragrance of the blossoms this is the 

 noblest of the genus. It grows out-of-doors in 

 Cornwall and in the greenhouse in other parts of 

 England as a scraggy bush 10 to 12 feet high. 

 R. barbatum is a tree from 40 to 60 feet high, 

 producing flowers of a rich scarlet or blood-colour, 

 and sometimes puce or rich pink. It is one of the 

 most beautiful of the Himalayan rhododendrons, 

 and is now very common in England, growing freely 

 out-of-doors. Another truly superb plant is R. 

 Madde?ii, with very handsome pure white flowers 

 3^ to 4 inches long and as much across the mouth. 

 This is now a special favourite in England. It 

 grows in large bushes in the open in Cornwall and 

 is very sweet-scented. R. virgatum is a beautiful 

 delicately white-flowered shrub. And R. campylo- 

 carpum displays masses of exquisite pale yellow 

 bells of rarest delicacy. 



Besides rhododendrons, ash, walnut, and maple 

 become more abundant as we ascend, and at 9,000 

 feet larch appears, and there are woods of a spruce 

 resembling the Norwegian spruce in general appear- 

 ance. Among the plants are wood-sorrel, bramble, 

 nut, spiraea, and various other South European and 

 North American genera. 



The climate is no longer stifling and the leeches 

 have disappeared. We miss many beauties of the 

 tropical forest. But, with the vegetation more and 

 more resembling what we are accustomed to in 

 Europe, we are feeling more at home. The path 

 winds through cool and pleasant woods, following 

 the varying contour of the mountain-sides. We are 

 no longer oppressed by the strangeness of the life 



