HIMALAYAN SPECIES 51 



The question of the hardiness of the Himalayan species is 

 a somewhat difficult one. In Cornwall and other favoured 

 parts of the Kingdom they are all quite happy in the open 

 air, but in those parts where frost of from 12 to 20 

 degrees sometimes occurs, only a few of them can be grown 

 permanently outside. The hardiest are the least interesting, 

 namely, R. glaucum, R. lepidotum, R. nivale, and R. antho- 

 pogon, all low-growing bushes with comparatively small 

 flowers. Next in hardiness come R. niveum, R. campanu- 

 latum, R. fulgenSy R. campylocarpum, R. Thomsonii, R. 

 barbatum, and R. cinnabarinum (Roylei). These all grow 

 well and flower freely outside at Kew, and are therefore 

 suitable for those parts of the Kingdom where the tem- 

 perature approximates to that of the London district. R. 

 arbor eum lives outside at Kew but rarely flowers, whilst 

 the large-growing, big-flowered species, such as R. grande 

 (argenteum), R. Hodgsonii, R. Falconeri, R. Griffithianum, R. 

 Dalhousice, R. Edgeworthii, R. Nuttallii, and some others, 

 require the humid, mild climate of such districts as South- 

 West Cornwall. The yellow-flowered R. Wightii, judging 

 from the altitude at which it is found in the Himalayas, 

 ought to be as hardy as R. campanulatum, but it does not 

 appear to have been tested in England, though there are 

 plenty of young plants of it in cultivation now. 



At Valewood, Haslemere, a screen house provided 

 shelter for the Himalayan species, but some of these have 

 since proved to be quite hardy there. Hardiness as applied 

 to plants is an elastic term which is often used in a way that 

 misleads. A plant may be able to withstand a certain 

 degree of cold, and yet suffer injury in winter from some 

 other cause. For example, R. fulgens is quite hardy at Kew. 

 There are big bushes of it, at least thirty years old, in 



