HYBRIDS 173 



been made afterwards during the first quarter of last century, for dis- 

 tinct forms of similar origin appeared in horticultural literature at 

 that time, e. g., a cross between R. viscosum and R. maximum pub- 

 lished by Ker in Botanical Register (t. 195) in 1817 and a cross between 

 R. viscosum and R. ponticum published by Suns in Botanical Magazine 

 (t. 2308) in 1822, both raised by Wm. Herbert at Spofforth, England, 

 and other forms of unknown origin partly cultivated under the name 

 R. azaleoides. Many such hybrids were raised at Coombe Wood and at 

 Highclere, as a report in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (VI. 

 193) in 1829 shows: " It has been found that different species in the 

 genera Azalea, Rhododendron and Rhodora fertilize each other . . . 

 this has occurred at the Earl of Liverpool's collection at Coombe Wood 

 and still more remarkably at the Earl of Caernarvon's [sic] extensive 

 collection at High Clerc [sic]," and at the same place Mr. Gowen men- 

 tions that there are hundreds of seedlings of different varieties of 

 Azalea nudiflora and A. viscosa fertilized with pollen of a Rhododen- 

 dron intermediate between R. ponticum and R. catawbiense. 



The raising of hybrids between different species of Azaleas seems to 

 have been started almost simultaneously in England and in Belgium. 

 In England it was chiefly at Highclere in the Earl of Carnarvon's 

 gardens where these hybrids were raised. In a report in the Edin- 

 burgh New Philosophical Journal (X. 185) in 1831 it is stated that Mr. 

 Gowen raised seedlings of Azalea coccinea var. major, minor and 

 rubescens 1 " dusted with pollen of a late A. pontica" and of A. 

 coccinea rubescens 2 "impregnated with pollen of A. calendulacea 

 triumphans." In Belgium it was a baker at Ghent, P. Mortier, who 

 conceived about 1825 the idea of retarding the early flowering varie- 

 ties, which are often injured by late frosts, by crossing them with late 

 flowering varieties, and he achieved splendid results. In 1834 he sold 

 his last seedlings to Louis Verschaffelt of Ghent, who continued the 

 work. By Sweet, who figured one of these hybrids in 1831, they were 

 called R. Mortieri and later by Spae and Morren Azalea Mortieriana. 



These hybrids were chiefly crosses between the American Azaleas, 



1 This is probably a mistake and should read A. viscosa var. rubescens, for in 

 1832 Sweet states (Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 3, II. t. 137) under R. ornatum, that the 

 specimen figured was received in 1830 and that "the seeds were raised by Lord 

 Carnarvon's gardener from Azalea viscosa rubescens fertilized by A. pontica under 

 Mr. Gowen's own inspection." 



2 Lindley (in Bot. Reg. XVI. t. 1366 [1830]) states under A. calendulacea sub- 

 cuprea, quoting from Mr. Gowen's letter, that this form was raised at Highclere 

 between A. nudiflora rubescens and A. calendulacea triumphans. There is no such 

 name as A. coccinea rubescens known to me. 



