504) Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. 



Cornwall and Devonshire; the beautiful Berberis, many Cotoneasters, a 

 Euonymus, Jufliperus recurva, Leycesteria formosa, all the Spirsas, Viburnum 

 cotinifolium, and, above all, the magnificent Rhododendron campanulatum, have 

 to be added to our lists of common shrubbery plants. Clematis montana too 

 proved so robust, that we have not only secured that beautiful addition to our 

 climbers, among which variety is so much wanted, but have well-grounded 

 expectations that some of the many other beautiful species of the same genus 

 still to introduce, will prove equally suited to this climate. The results of the 

 frost upon the hybrid Rhododendra have been already sufficiently detailed 

 (page 492.), and need not be repeated. 



" The plants of the South of Eurojoe and adjacent countries have been for the 

 most part so long in cultivation here, that much novelty in the results of the 

 winter cannot be expected with regard to them ; nevertheless, some facts 

 prove new, others confirm opinions which were not previously established to 

 the satisfaction of every one, and a few are inexplicable upon any principle 

 with which I am acquainted. That Aristolochia sempervirens, a native of 

 Candia ; and Pegannm Harmala, a common Syrian plant ; Ilex balearica and 

 Buxus balearica, evergreens inhabiting the islands of Majorca and Minorca; 

 Juniperus oxycedrus, quite a southern bush ; Pistacia terebinthus, which is 

 not found wild north of the coast of the Mediterranean, should all have been 

 found hardy where such plants as the tamarisk, Arbutus Unedo, and the 

 cypress perished, are results which could hardly have been anticipated. They 

 are, however, of the first importance, because it will induce the more general 

 cultivation of those among them which are beautiful. It is interesting to know 

 that Arbutus Andrachne is more hardy than A. Unedo, — a fact which may 

 perhaps be connected with their very different localities when wild ; the former 

 being exposed to the severe cold of South-eastern Europe, while the latter, 

 although wild in Ireland, is more pecuhar to the west of Europe. Connected 

 with this is the important fact, that A. Andrachne inarched upon A. Unedo, in 

 which condition it is usually sold in the nurseries, is unfit for planting, because 

 of the tenderness of its stock. By taking care that plants of A. Andrachne, 

 and also A. hybrida, are on their own roots, two fine evergreens may be con- 

 sidered secured to the gardens of the greater part of England. That there 

 should be a variety of the olive hardy enough to bear — 4|° without the 

 slightest injury, may be a fact of value to the olive-grower in many parts of 

 Europe, and renders it probable that this useful tree may be profitably raised 

 for its oil in any part of Ireland. To the fruit-grower the hardiness of the 

 Green Ischia fig is a good result, for it will enable this variety to be cultivated 

 much furtlier to the north than it has hitherto been thought possible to possess 

 figs as open standards. The Aleppo pine seems to have generally perished; 

 but Pinus brutia, a Calabrian species very like in habit, seems to be hardy. 

 There has been some difference of opinion as to the comparative hardiness of 

 the species of Cerasus called " Laurels " in this country. The fact is now esta- 

 blished beyond doubt, that C. lusitanica, the Portugal laurel, is much more 

 hardy than C. laurocerasus, the common laurel. This could not have been 

 expected from what are reported to be the natural habits of those two species ; 

 the former inhabiting the mountains of Portugal and Madeira, where the 

 climate is softened by the mild air of the Atlantic, and the latter being found 

 on the mountains of the most eastern parts of Europe and of Persia, where 

 the winters are more rigorous than in western countries. The death of the 

 Sweet Bay and the Laurustinus, on the other hand, corresponds with what 

 might be anticipated from their inhabiting only the warm rifts of calcareous 

 rocks in the south of Europe, where, if their branches are ever killed, their 

 roots are secured against all chances of destruction. 



" Of Cape plants there is Httle to observe further than that all the shrubby 

 species are evidently too tender to deserve cultivation, without protection, north 

 of Cornwall and Devonshire. It is, however, satisfactory to find that the 

 hardskinned Cape Bulbs and tuberous Pelargonia will live in the open border, 

 with only the aid of a covering of fern-leaves, provided the border is well 



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