CHAPTER Vlll 



THE RHODODENDRON 



" Wonderful, hidden things wait near, I know. 

 Perchance fulfilment of our noblest aim. 

 Or marvels that would set the heart aflame. 

 Which an obscure and mystic sense might show — 

 Snatching us — in a moment — to the glow 

 Beyond yon filmy barrier without name 

 That no eye pierceth ! " 



Fanny Elizabeth Sidebottom, A Spiritual Sense. 



According to authority, there are about 186 

 species of Rhododendron in the world. The great- 

 est number of varieties inhabit India and China, 

 and they are important plants in the Caucasus, 

 where often — as with Rhododendron ponticiun — 

 they cover the entire side of a mountain. In 

 Switzerland there are but two varieties, R. ferrugi- 

 neum and R. hirsutu7n, and they are to the Swiss 

 Alps what the Heather is to the Scottish moun- 

 tains (with, however, this difference — the Alps 

 have also the Heather). They clothe the open 



102 



