CHAPTER II 

 BOTANICAL CHARACTERS 



RHODODENDRONS, including Azaleas, are either trees or 

 shrubs, varying considerably in stature and habit, with 

 hard, close-grained wood. Their leaves, which are either 

 deciduous or evergreen, are entire, thick and leathery, or 

 herbaceous, glabrous or clothed with hairs or scales, often 

 felted beneath. Before developing they are enclosed in 

 scaly bracts, which are often gummy. The flowers are 

 produced in terminal heads, rarely axillary, and when in 

 bud they are enclosed in scales, like the leaves. The 

 calyx has five lobes, but it is sometimes almost obsolete ; 

 corolla campanulate or funnel-shaped or tubular, usually 

 five-lobed ; stamens five or ten or more ; anthers oblong, 

 dehiscing by terminal pores ; style long or short ; stigma 

 capitate ; ovary five to twenty celled ; ovules very numerous ; 

 fruit a woody capsule containing very many small seeds. 



The genus now includes all the plants previously known 

 as Azaleas, Indian, Chinese, and North American. It is 

 generally thought that the merging of Azalea into Rhodo- 

 dendron is recent ; but, as a matter of fact, it was proposed by 

 the botanist Salisbury over one hundred years ago. He then 

 wrote : "To the genus Rhododendron I have no hesitation 

 in referring all the Azaleas of other authors. They agree 

 minutely in habit, inflorescence, filaments, anthers, pollen, 

 fruit and seeds. Mere number of stamens appear to be 

 of no consequence whatever. The deciduous and evergreen 



