34 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD 



E. H. Wilson (Nos. 10,327, flowers white). Hondo, prov. Settsu, 

 cultivated round Osaka, May, 1918, E. H. Wilson (form " Hinode- 

 giri") ; prov. Musashi, cultivated, Hatagaya, Hort. Oishi, May, 1914, 

 E. H. Wilson (80 named forms of " Kurume Azaleas ") 



Cultivated: Hort. J. S. Ames, 1920 (10 forms of "Kurume 

 Azaleas"); Hort. Kew, May 17, 1909; Hort. Holm Lea, March, 1920 

 (50 forms "Kurume Azaleas"). 



This is the phylogenetic type of the race of small flowered Azaleas so plentiful 

 in Japan and of which amoena, obtusa, and "Hinodegiri" are perhaps the best 

 known in western gardens. It is especially abundant on the wind-swept slopes 

 of Nishi-Kirishima, an active volcano in south Kyushu. It is found above the 

 tree-level, growing among lava and in volcanic ashes with coarse grasses and mis- 

 cellaneous low shrubs. At its lowest altitudinal range the leaves are persistent, 

 but higher up they are deciduous. The plants are seldom a metre tall, more usually 

 less than half of this, and quite commonly they are prostrate or hug boulders 

 closely. The habit is normally dense and twiggy, but when sheltered a few strong 

 shoots develop and the plant becomes relatively tall and sparsely branched. The 

 leaves vary greatly in size according to altitude and exposure and are smallest on 

 the plants which annually shed their foliage. On an average plant the spring 

 leaves are oval to elliptic-ovate, from 1 to 2 cm. long and from 0.5 to 1 cm. wide, 

 but they may be smaller or larger. The upper surface is bright green and the 

 under usually pallid. The summer leaves are darker, more coriaceous and from 

 oblanceolate to obovate in shape, with the mucronate apex rounded or acute. 

 Normally the leaves are tufted at the ends of the twigs, but on free-growing shoots 

 they are scattered; both shoots and leaves are clad with appressed, pale gray to 

 yellowish, straight hairs. The flowers vary a little in size, in degree of fragrance, 

 and greatly in color; the most common shades are rosy mauve to magenta, but 

 salmon and salmon-red are plentiful; pink, scarlet and crimson are rather rare. 

 Plants bearing white flowers are occasionally found. It is very floriferous; each 

 twig terminates in a flower-bud, often in a cluster of from three to five, and from 

 each one to three flowers develop in the spring. The bud-scales are dry, nowhere 

 glandular, and are ciliated with pale gray hairs. The calyx is usually well developed 

 with green, oval to nearly orbicular, ciliate lobes; sometimes it is quite small. The 

 corolla lobes may be rounded or pointed and the stamens may be shorter or longer 

 than the corolla; the anthers vary in color from pale yellow-brown to deep magenta, 

 this being correlated with the color of the flowers. The capsule is variable in size 

 and the calyx-lobes are persistent. 



From the above facts is it apparent that this plant is responsive to varying 

 ecological conditions and that its extreme forms present a very different appear- 

 ance. This is indeed true, nevertheless this form is well marked and, except that 

 there is no definite demarkation between it and the variety Kaempferi, presents no 

 difficulty unless an attempt be made to subdivide it. This I find impossible to do, 

 and fortunately it is not necessary, since all the color forms have received names in 

 gardens and may be classed under the general title of " Kurume Azaleas," from 

 a town in Kyushu where much attention has been paid to their cultivation and 

 development. 



The type of this form came from Mt. Onsen, a volcano not far from Nagasaki, 

 but I do not know whether it is plentiful there. It also grows on other Kyushu 

 mountains. On Kirishima it is abundant and when in flower forms sheets of color on 

 the bare or grass-clad, bleak slopes and is strikingly attractive. Mt. Kirishima, of 



