Trees, Shrubs and Vines 
native to our territory—but the florist’s art has pro- 
duced a splendid assortment, by grafting the floral 
excellences of one upon the vigorous stock of another, 
and by such commingling of tints as gives to this genus 
a peculiar pre-eminence among shrubs. 
In foliage it much resembles its near kindred, the 
azalea, the leaf of each being thick, leathery, entire, 
elliptical, and dark green ; and the flowers are of much 
the same type, yet with the evident difference (at least 
in the wild varieties) that the azalea blossom has five 
stamens, that of the rhododendron ten. ‘This is one of 
the few shrubs distinctly preferring shade to sunshine, 
and this fact must be taken account of, if it is to be 
successfully cultivated. 
Certainly in our northern latitude there is no surprise 
more brilliant in store for the naturalist than to discover 
the rich, full-blown clusters of a rhododendron gleaming 
in the dark woods. Most of our cultivated specimens 
have foreign stock grafted or budded upon our native 
Catawbiense, the exotic species being too tender to 
thrive upon their own roots. Another native rhododen- 
dron, &. maximum, or great laurel, thrives as far north 
as Connecticut, and is a splendid growth, bordering on 
the arboreal, which it fully attains in the Southern 
States. This blossoms in July, later than all others of 
its class, varying in color from pink to white. 
The leaf-type of the genus is much the same as in the 
magnolia, heavy and stiff, nearly or quite evergreen, and 
admirable in its way, though far from graceful; and the 
figure of the entire plant, in harmony with the foliage, 
is rigid and almost clumsy, yet with a rough vigor and 
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