Azara 



over, though the touch of colour is renewed and 

 emphasised in the autumn, when a host of little 

 orange-red berries take the place of the flowers. 



The Azaras belong to the small and little-known 

 family Bixacece, their only notable relative being the 

 Bixa orellana, which gives the orange-red colouring 

 often used for staining the outside of cheese. There is 

 no representative of the family in the British flora, its 

 nearest allies being perhaps the rock- roses (Cisttis) and 

 the violets. 



Azara microphylla was reported by Captain King 

 at the beginning of the eighteenth century as growing 

 in the province of Valdivia at the foot of the Andes, 

 but in 1832 Loudon definitely says that it was not 

 then known in the gardens of Europe. Sir Joseph 

 Hooker also reported rinding it when he visited Chile, 

 but it was not introduced into British gardens until 

 1873, when it was sent here by Richard Pearce, who 

 was then out in South America collecting for Messrs. 

 Veitch. It was to the same collector that we also owe 

 the attractive little Escallonia philippiana. 



Soil and Cultivation. A fairly dry, light loam is 

 the best soil for an Azara, and, except in the milder 

 parts of England, a sunny position sheltered from the . 

 north and east winds is essential. It is propagated by 

 cuttings of ripened wood struck in a gentle heat. 



