HYDRANGEA 625 



by Dr Bretschneider. Planted in a sunny position in good soil, this makes a 

 really handsome shrub, flowering in June and July, perfectly hardy and always 

 vigorous. 



H. CINEREA, Small. 



A species intermediate between H. arborescens, whose leaves are almost 

 smooth, and H. radiata, which has them clothed beneath with a close, snowy- 

 white felt. In H. cinerea the leaves are covered beneath with a dense greyish 

 down. The corymbs have few large sterile flowers or none. 



Found wild in mountainous parts of the south-eastern United States. A 

 variety, STERILIS, Rehder, in which nearly all the flowers are of the large sterile 

 type, is described as having originated in Ohio, U.S.A., and was introduced in 

 1910, but I have not seen it flower in cultivation. There has long been in 

 cultivation a Hydrangea intermediate between H. radiata and H. arborescens, 

 which has been regarded as a hybrid between the two. It is known as 

 H. canescens, Koch, and H. arborescens var. canescens, Nicholson, but I do 

 not know how it differs from the species named as above by Dr Small. 



H. HORTENSIS, Smith. 

 (Bot. Mag., t., 438 ; H. Hortensia, Siebold ; Hortensia opuloides, Lamarck.") 



A deciduous shrub up to 8 ft. high and 12 ft. or more in diameter, forming 

 a dense, leafy, hemispherical bush furnished to the ground ; smooth in almost 

 every part except the flower-stalks and vein-axils beneath the leaves. Leaves 

 ovate or oval, tapered at the base, pointed at the apex, toothed ; varying much 

 in size, often 6 to 8 ins. long, on vigorous branches ; strongly ribbed, pale 

 bright green ; stalk to I in. long. Corymbs usually about 6 ins. across, but 

 considerably more in specimens subjected to special cultivation, rounded and 

 with all or nearly all the flowers sterile, pink or blue. 



Introduced from China to Kew, in 1789, by Sir Joseph Banks. This shrub 

 has for centuries been a popular garden plant in China and Japan. It is 

 probably only truly wild in China, and in that state of course the larger 

 proportion of the flowers are of the small, fertile kind, as in other wild species, 

 but I do not know that the genuine wild type is in gardens. Near London, 

 the common Hydrangea has no claim to be regarded as a hardy shrub. It 

 can only flower when the terminal bud formed in autumn survives the winter, 

 and that happens rarely. As a rule, in open ground the shoots are killed 

 back to the ground. But farther south, and especially in Devon and Cornwall, 

 it is one of the most gorgeous of outdoor shrubs, brightening the gardens of 

 rich and poor alike in the late summer and autumn more than any other. 



Yar. MARIESII, introduced from Japan in 1879, has the marginal flowers 

 only sterile ; they are remarkably large, often over 3 ins. across and of a 

 delicate mauve-pink (see The Garden, 1898, p. 390, plate 1196). 



Var. NIGRA, Nicholson (syns. H. cyanoclada, Hort. ; H. mandschurica, 

 Hort.} Young stems dark purple, almost black ; flowers bright rose-coloured, 

 and all or nearly all sterile. 



These two varieties are similar to the common Hydrangea in leaf and habit, 

 and neither is any hardier ; but the three following, although commonly placed 

 under H. hortensis as varieties, are very distinct and hardier. They also flower 

 from side buds of the previous year's growths, and the crop of flowers is not 

 therefore dependent- on the fate of the terminal bud. As the type from which 

 they spring is spontaneous in Japan, it appears to deserve specific distinction 

 from H. hortensis. They can be recognised out of flower by the dull leaves. 



H. ACUMINATA. Siebold (H. hortensis var. acuminate, A. Gray}. Leaves 

 ovate, long pointed, dull green, with appressed, bristly hairs on both sides. 



2 R 



