472 Edwards*s Botanical Register. 



the sun at midsummer. Thus protected, they will perfomi all their 

 natural functions as if in their native soil ; and an abundance of food will be 

 sent downwards into the roots, which will thus be prepared, upon the 

 return of the growing season, to send up new shoots with the greatest 

 87 vigour." — Ul 1, Gaulthen« Shdllon. {fig. 87.) 



This elegant evergreen is dwarf and small in 

 English gardens, but in the pine and oak woods 

 of Columbia and of other parts of north-west 

 America, it " grows beneath the dense shadow 

 of these places where few other plants will live, 

 and there attains the stature of a man." By 

 layers and suckers, and by seeds, which it is 

 disposed to produce in England, it may easily 

 be multiplied to any extent. Skallon is the 

 name given to the plant in Colombia, where 

 its agreeably flavoured berries are much es- 

 teemed. — 1412. Potentilla *missourica. A 

 plant of botanical interest only. " It is no 

 doubt one of the plants confounded with P. 

 argiita of Pursh, from which it is nevertheless 

 extremely different. It is nearly related to P. pectinata of Fischer, 

 which is wrongly referred to P. pennsylvanica, as a synonyme, in De 

 Candolle's Prodromus. From P. pectinata of Fischer, P. missourica is 

 known not only by its hoariness, but also by the nakedness of its inflo- 

 rescence, by its minute petals, and more deeply pinnatifid leaflets." — 1413. 

 Turrae'tt *pinnata, Wmgedi-leaved Turrse'a. A pretty, rare, and tender 

 stove shrub ; native of the neighbourhood of Silhet. Its pale rose-coloured 

 blossoms are produced three or four in a cluster; they are l^in. in dia- 

 meter, a magnitude not very frequent in the iHeliaceae. — /diododendron 

 *alta-clerense, the Highclere Rhododendron. A superb hybrid, raised at 

 Lord Caernarvon's, by Mr. Gowen, the intelligent and meritorious gardener 

 there. The brilliant crimson flowers and fine foliage of iJhododendron 

 arboreum cause that plant to be desired by every one who has seen it in 

 bloom, a gratification we have experienced at Mr. Knight's nursery in the 

 King's Road ; but then that is from India, and too tender for the open air 

 of Britain. In consequence of this the same admirable properties become 

 very desirable in some hardy American species that will stand our winters. 

 These, however, no North American species at present known fully pos- 

 sess ; and, as " necessity is the mother of invention," advantage was taken 

 by Mr. Gowen of the well known susceptibility to hybridise existing among 

 iihododendra and other i?hodorace0e, to create by cross impregnation a 

 plant that should possess the properties required. To this end, a hybi'id 

 bred between iJhododendron ponticura and R. catawbiense was chosen as 

 the female, and its ovula impregnated with the pollen of the magnificent R. 

 arboreum. From the seeds so impregnated " above 1800 plants were raised, 

 which have been extensively distributed to nurseries and private gardens 

 both in England and Scotland;" and out of the plants retained at High- 

 clere has bloomed the splendid hybrid figured in the Regisfo; and of which 

 Professor Lindley thus remarks : — "To the hardiness of R. catawbiense is 

 added the arborescent habit and rich colours of R. arboreum ; while the 

 contracted clusters of R. arboreum are exchanged for the spreading clusters 

 of R. catawbiense. " In iJhododendron alta-clerense every thing of beauty 

 that a plant can possess seems collected, fragrance alone being wanting. 

 "With a clear transparent crimson colour, rendered still more bright by a 

 few distinct spots of a darker hue, are combined a fine bold outline, a great 

 breadth of surface, and the utmost symmetry ; while the deep rich green of 

 the magnificent foliage forms a background in the most perfect harmony 

 with the lovely tints of the blossoms." Mr. Gowen, in a letter to Mr. 



