Botanic Garden at Carhruhe. 



267 



Valiisneria spiralis; Phormium tenax, which has ripened 

 seed ; and Tecoma radlcans, which has attained a large size, 

 and is probably as hardy as the native shrubs ; Sophbra ja- 

 ponica, very large ; Tamarix gallica, twelve feet high ; and 

 Salisburz'a, male and female. i?hododendron ponticum is 

 here protected during winter with fern ; while R. maxi- 

 mum requires no protection. All the American plants in 

 this garden, and also in the pleasure-ground, are grown in 

 rotten wood and leaves. There is a very large orangery, 

 which was formerly a theatre. The (Scarabae^us nasicornis is 

 hatched from eggs inserted in the bark beds ; and the perfect 

 insect flies about in the open air ; and, while it excites 

 attention by its singular form, does harm to nothing. But 

 the greatest curiosity in this garden is a weeping willow, 

 planted in 1787, which was nearly thrown down by a storm 

 in 1816. One branch was cut off, and an oaken prop was 

 put under the other, {^fig. 79. a.) The willow sent down a 



root under the decayed bark of this oak prop, which, in 

 1829, being increased to about the thickness of a man's 

 arm (Z>), burst from the bark ; and it is supposed that, in a 

 few years, it will render the oaken prop superfluous. In a 

 building in this garden is a very complete collection of seeds, 

 of sections of wood, and a herbarium. The different seeds 



