ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 33 



origin, but there is no evidence to support this view. On the contrary, I do not think 

 there can be any doubt whatever that it is a Japanese plant and merely a color 

 form of the Azalea so abundant on Nishi-Kirishima, Kyushu, hereunder de- 

 scribed as f . japonicum. Moreover it is simply one of a race of charming Azaleas 

 which for more than one hundred years have been grown and developed in the 

 city of Kurume in the southern island of Kyushu, Japan, and is now becoming 

 known as " Kurume Azaleas." The typical form of amoenum has hose-in-hose flowers 

 and is known at Kurume under the name of " Kochonomai"; it is considered the 

 hardiest of all. The single-flowered form, the f . normale of Maximowicz, is known 

 and more especially around Tokyo, as " Hatsu-giri." The peculiarity of the calyx 

 becoming petaloid and forming a hose-in-hose flower is common to the whole race 

 of " Kurume Azaleas " and is found in every one of the white and colored forms, 

 and by selection and vegetative propagation it becomes fixed. 



The typical amoenum with hose-in-hose flowers was introduced into America 

 by C. M. Hovey, Boston, Mass., in 1855 and soon established itself as a favorite 

 exhibition plant. There are numerous named forms of this Azalea, and in 1879 

 Pynaert (Rev. Hort. Belg. V. 277), figures Azalea amoena "Mrs. Carmichael " and 

 mentions five others that were in commerce. In recent years, at least, amoenum 

 has been used in hybridizing with forms of R. Simsii and the result is a beautiful 

 race of small-flowered, hose-in-hose Azaleas of which the well-known " Hexe " 

 ("Firefly" of American gardens) is a familiar example. Near Boston amoenum 

 is not entirely hardy but on Long Island and southward it is perfectly so. 



The wild form of the species is: 



Rhododendron obtusum f. japonicum Wilson, n. comb. 



Rhododendron indicum . amoenum a. japonicum Maximowicz in Mem. Acad. 



Sci. St. Petersburg, se>. 7, XVI. No. 9, 41 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). 

 Rhododendron Kaempferi var. japonicum Render in Sargent, Trees and Shrubs, 



II. 30 (1907). Schneider, III. Handb. Laubholzk. II. 505 (1911). 

 Rhododendron indicum var. japonicum Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXII. 56 



(1908). 

 Rhododendron kiusianum Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXVII. 174 (1914); 



in Jour. Jap. Bot. I [173J fig. (1917). Komatsu in Icon. PL Koisikav. II. 



95, t. 132 (1915); in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII [18] (1918). 

 Rhododendron amoenum var. japonicum Bean, Trees and Shrubs Brit. Isl. 



II. 341 (1914). Millais, Rhodod. 113 (1917). -^ 



Rhododendron obtusum Miyazawa in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXII. [318] (1918), 



not Planchon. 



. , ^ ^^ ^ 



Japan: Kyushu, prov. Hizen, Wunzen (Mt. Onsen) near Naga-^-^- Vv ^. 



saki, 1863, C. Maximowicz (Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray); prov. Osumi, 



Kirishima-jinza, in a garden, October 1, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 



10,957); Nishi-Kirishima, alt. 600-1600 m., May 5, 1918, E. H. + 



Wilson (Nos. 10,329, 10,333); same locality, alt. 1300 m., March 10, ****^^ f^T 



1914, E. H. Wilson (No. 6255); same locality, November 1, 1918,^****" + J*W 



E. H. Wilson (Nos. 11,248, 11,250, 11,255 seeds only); same locality, 



June 1, 1916, S. Kawagoe; same locality, May 18, 1917, Z. Tashiro; same 



mountain, Makizono, May 4, 1918, B. Miyazawa; Kirishima-jinza, 



cultivated, plant said to have come from Mt. Kirishima, May 5, 1918, 



