62 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD 



BO-called, the origin of this plant is obscure. It appears to have been sent from 

 Canton, China, to the Horticultural Society's garden at Chiswick, probably by 

 John Reeves but the facts are not clearly known. One of these plants was figured 

 by Sims in the Botanical Magazine (t. 2667), and according to Poiteau it was known 

 in the gardens round Paris in 1829 but was rare. ,No wild species to which it can 

 be referred unhesitatingly has been discovered. In Japan I saw nothing just like 

 it but it is evident that the " Omurasaki-tsutsuji " is a glorified form of it. In its 

 vigorous habit, size of flower and shyness of blossoming R. phoeniceum G. Don 

 resembles R. scabrum G. Don, whilst in the calyx and character of pubescence it 

 suggests R. mucronatum G. Don; its viscid inner bud-scales agree with both species. 

 Possibly it is a hybrid between these two species though I incline to the belief 

 that it is nothing but an extreme form of R. scabrum G. Don. I have not been 

 able to discover just when it reached America but it was cultivated by Hovey & 

 Co., Boston, Mass., in 1835. In England attemps to hybridise this plant with all 

 sorts of species of Rhododendron were made and the books record a number of 

 presumed hybrids of remarkable parentage. For example Paxton's Azalea Raw- 

 sonii is said to be a cross between A. phoenicea and R. dauricum atrovirens 

 but an unbiased examination of the plate reflects nothing but a good colored form 

 of R. phoeniceum. Other presumed hybrids are dealt with hereunder and it is 

 evident that enthusiasm out-did the facts. It is probable that this plant has had 

 something to do in the evolution of the present-day race of " Indian Azaleas." In 

 Belgium R. phoeniceum and its variety concinnum are the principal stocks used in 

 grafting the "Indian Azaleas" of commerce. 



A form of this is: 



Rhododendron phoeniceum f . semiduplex Wilson, n. f. 



Azalea ledifolia var. /3. phoenicea Hooker in Bot. Mag. LX. t. 3239 (1833). 

 Rhododendron kdifolium ft. phoeniceum De Candolle, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 727 



(1839), in part. 



G. Don and others have merged this into the type but its semi-double flowers 

 make it distinct as a garden plant. The color is poor. I have seen the specimen 

 preserved in Herb. Kew from which the Botanical Magazine figure was prepared 

 but no living material, and do not know if the plant is now in cultivation. In the 

 typical R. phoeniceum flowers are often seen in which the stamens show a tendency 

 toward becoming petaloid. 



Another form is: 



Rhododendron phoeniceum f. Smithii Wilson, n. comb. 



Rhododendron indicum 7. Smithii Sweet, Hort. Brit. ed. 2, 343 (1830). 

 Rhododendron pukhrum Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 2, II. t. 117 (1832). 



De Candolle, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 726 (1839). Maximowicz in Mem. Acad. 



Sci. St. Petersbourg, se>. 7, XVI. No. 9, 36 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). 

 Rhododendron indicum pulchrum G. Don, Gen. Syst. III. 845 (1834). 

 Azalea indica hybrida Loudon, Gard. Mag. n. ser. I. 326 (1835). Hovey, 



Am. Gard. Mag. II. 157 (1836). 



This plant is stated variously to be " the produce of R. ledifolium Hook, im- 

 pregnated by the pollen of the Old Red R. indicum" and " a hybrid between R. 

 phoeniceum and R. ledifolium" but to me it appears to be nothing else than a form 

 of R. phoeniceum. Under Loudon's name it was introduced into America about 

 1835 and was exhibited for the first time before the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society on March 5, 1836, by Hovey & Co. For many years it was a favorite 



