Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



knowledge of these shrubs, for in the Himalayas he 

 visited a region where they are all in all. "They are 

 the constant companion throughout every day's march," 

 he wrote. The natives used them for all manner of 

 purposes fuel, poles for tents, to fashion stools, 

 saddles, bowls and spoons ; the very bark is pressed 

 into service, as is birch bark in the Arctic regions, 

 and the leaves serve as plates. He also introduced 

 many interesting species into England, as, for instance, 

 the handsome but very variable J?. barbatum, and 

 R. fulgens, both of which glow with blood-red flowers. 

 To him, too, we owe the large-leaved, beautiful 

 R. arboreum, one variety of which has its buds and the 

 under-side of its leaves clad with silvery silken hairs, 

 and from whose flowers pink or white the bees 

 collect a honey that is reputed poisonous, though the 

 natives make a jelly from them that is relished with 

 impunity. 



To-day we are acquainted with about fifty different 

 species of Indian Rhododendrons, with sixteen species 

 of American Rhododendrons, and with as many as one 

 hundred and fifty species of Chinese Rhododendrons. 

 Of these, just over a hundred are in cultivation at the 

 present time. But besides these there are endless 

 hybrid forms manufactured by gardeners and rejoicing 

 in the most fanciful of names, a list of which may be 



seen in any nurseryman's catalogue. Five chief points 



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