1130 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



The flowers are eaten by the hill people, and formed into a jelly by European 

 visiters. The leaves of R. campanulatum, being used as a snuff by the natives 

 of India, are imported from Cashmere, under the names of hoolas-kasmeeree 

 (Cashmere snuff) and burg-i-tibbut (Thibet leaf), though easily procurable 

 within the British territories. It is remarkable that De Candolle mentions 

 the employment in the United States, for a similar purpose, of the brown 

 dust which adheres to the petioles of kalmias and rhododendrons. The 

 leaves of R. lepidotum (a species not yet introduced into Europe) are highly 

 fragrant, and of a stimulant nature." (Jlllust., p. 219.) The culture of all the 

 species is nearly the same : they all require peat earth, or, at least, thrive 

 best in it; and some of them will not live without it. They may all be pro- 

 pagated by cuttings of the growing shoots, planted in fine sand, and covered 

 with a glass, or by layers ; but the best plants of all the species are procured 

 from seed. The varieties can, of course, only be continued by cuttings or 

 layers ; and the stools for these require to be planted in beds of peat, which 

 should be kept tolerably moist. The seeds, if ripened in this country, should 

 be sown soon after gathering ; and those imported from America, immediately 

 on being received; because, though the seeds of all the JEricacea? will retain 

 the vital principle for several years (see p. 1100.), yet the longer they are 

 kept out of the soil, the less likely they are to germinate, and the greater 

 will be the risk of losing some of them. They should be sown in pots or 

 boxes, or in a border shaded from the direct influence of the sun ; and kept in 

 a uniform state of moisture, and protected from the frost. In sowing, the 

 surface of the soil should previously be made quite smooth, and gently pressed 

 down, or watered till it has settled to a level surface ; and, after the seeds 

 have been equally distributed over this surface, they should be covered with 

 no more soil than is barely requisite to conceal them from the eye. Seeds 

 sown in autumn will germinate in the following spring, and be fit for transplant- 

 ing into nursery lines or pots by the autumn, or by the spring of the following 

 year. These directions will apply generally to all the species, but are more 

 particularly applicable to those which are perfectly hardy. The culture of 

 the half-hardy sorts will be noticed after describing them. 



GENUS XX. 



r 



#HODODE'NDRON L. THE RHODODENDRON, or ROSE BAY. Lin. Syst. 

 Penta-Decandria Monogynia. 



Identification Lin. Gen.. No. 548. ; Schreb. Gen., No. 746. ; Gaertn. Fruct , 1. p. 304. t. (53. ; Juss. 



Gen 158 ; D. Don in Edinb. Phil. Journ. ; Prod. Fl. Nep., p. 152. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 843. 

 Synonymcs. Azalea sp. of authors; .Rhodbra Lin. ; Chamaerhododthidros Tourn, Inst., t. 373.; 



Rhododendron, Fr., /to/., and Span. ; Alpbalsam, Ger. 

 Derivation. From rhodon, a rose, and dendron, a tree ; in reference to the terminal bunches of 



flowers, which are usually red, or rose-colour, 



Description, $c. Shrubs or trees, usually evergreen, but in the Azalea 

 division almost entirely deciduous, with quite entire alternate leaves, termi- 

 nated by a withered tip, or yellow gland ; and terminal, corymbose, showy 

 flowers. Cultivated in sandy peat, kept rather moist, and propagated by 

 layers, seeds, or cuttings. Under this genus Professor D. Don has included 

 the Azalea, which, however technically correct, appears to us injudicious 

 in a practical point of view ; and, though we have followed his arrangement 

 in this article, yet we have indicated two sections, containing the Indian 

 or tender, and the Asiatic and American or hardy, azaleas, which those who 

 cultivate extensive collections of these shrubs may, if they choose, consider 

 as constituting the genus Azalea as heretofore. Such persons, therefore, 

 may view the genus Azalea as remaining exactly as it is in our Hortus Jiri- 

 tannicus. 



