EUROPEAN RHODODENDRONS 21 



England, where it comes up freely in woods from self- 

 sown seeds. It is one of the parents of the first hybrid 

 Rhododendron raised in this country. It is commonly 

 used as a stock for the more delicate kinds, and in the 

 United States, according to Mr. Parsons, it is valuable not 

 only as a stock for seedlings of R. catawbiense, but also for 

 the Ghent Azaleas in places where they will not thrive on 

 their own roots. There are old woods in England in which 

 this fine, useful evergreen is represented by huge bushes, 

 almost trees. In the Queen's Cottage Grounds at Kew 

 there are some grand masses which in May or June are 

 mounds of purple flowers. 



There is another Pontic Rhododendron, known to 

 gardeners as Azalea pontica, and to botanists as Rhododen- 

 dron flavum. It is the deciduous, twiggy, hairy-leaved 

 yellow or orange flowered shrub which grows a yard or so 

 high, is as hardy as Box, and flowers profusely in spring. 

 Seeds of it were first sent to England by Dr. P. Pallas, who 

 collected them in the Crimea and gave them to Messrs. Lee 

 and Kennedy of Hammersmith. This is the plant whose 

 flowers are said to poison the honey obtained from them. 

 Mr. H. J. Ross has stated in the Gardeners' Chronicle that 

 the poisonous principle is got rid of by heating the honey. 

 It has never been recorded that honey is affected in this 

 country by this Azalea, although the flowers are favourites 

 with bees. 



R. dahuricum was introduced into England from Russia 

 by a Mr. Bush about one hundred years ago, and was 

 distributed by Messrs. Lee and Kennedy. It is a rather 

 scraggy, sparsely -leaved shrub, remarkable as an early 

 flowerer, as it sometimes is in full bloom in January. It 

 is one of the parents of that very useful hybrid, R. praecox. 



