252 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[April 20, 1912. 



NEW OR NOTEWORTHY 



PLANTS. 



RHODODENDRON DELAVAYI ALBUM. 



When noting the flowering of the Chinese R. 

 Delavayi in the garden of the late Mr. Thomas 

 Acton, Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow, in 1904 (see 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, xxxv, 262), I pointed out 

 how close was the re&emblance between this 

 species and the common Indian R. arboreum. 

 Their close relationship is now attested to by the 

 flowering of a white form of R. Delavayi in the 

 Temperate House at Kew, the plant being one 

 of the originals raised from seeds sent from 

 China by the Abbe Delavay, some 20 years ago. 

 The figure of R. arboreum album in the Botanical 

 Magazine, t. 3290 (1830), might very well stand 

 for the plant of R. Delavayi in flower now at 

 Kew ; neither in the size, shape, colour and vena- 

 tion of the leaves, nor in the shape and markings 

 of the flowers' is there any difference between 

 them. However, the name Delavavi has been 

 generally adopted for the Chinese plant, and as 

 it is possible the Indian plant is not eo hardy as 

 R. Delavayi, the names may well stand as they 

 are. Compared with the type, as figured and 

 described, R. Delavayi album differs in having 

 leaves up to 9 inches by 2 inches, the upper side 

 dark-green, the lower covered with a brown, felt- 

 like indumentum. The flower-head contains 

 about 25 flowers, which are pure- white, with 

 6mall, purple spots on the upper segments and a 

 blotch of purple at the base of the corolla. R. 

 arboreum album first flowered in a conservatory 

 at Dee Hills, near Chester, in 1831. 



RHODODENDRON ADENOPODUM. 



Another Chinese Rhododendron that has its 

 fellow, or very near ally, among the Rhododen- 

 drons of other countries, is what is called R. 

 adenopodum. I have lately seen a flower-head 

 of it from the collection of Mr. J. C. Williams, 

 Caerhays Castle, and, to my eye, it is only a form 

 of R. caucasicum, of which R. Ungernii, R. Met- 

 ternichii, and R. Smirnowii are other forms. The 

 Chinese plant is most like R. Ungernii, but Mr. 

 Williams's example has very narrow leaves 

 and their underside is fawn-coloured, not white 

 as described by Franchet, though this is, we 

 know, a variable character, as, for example, in 

 R. arboreum. The hairy pedicels and deeply- 

 lobed, reflexed calyx of R. adenopodum are its 

 most distinguishing characters. 



RHODODENDRON FARGESII. 



Mr. Williams has also lately flowered R. Far- 

 gesii, a Chinese species, which, according to Wil- 

 son, forms a bush from 4 to 20 feet high, with 

 white or rose-coloured flow r ers, on the Sutchuen 

 Mountains at from 8,000 to 11,000 feet. It belongs 

 to the same group as R. decorum, R. Fortunei and 

 R. campy locarpum, resembling the last-named 

 species rather closely in foliage and in the shape of 

 the flowers, but it is quite distinct from all other 

 cultivated Rhododendrons, the leaves being thin, 

 glabrous, dull-green above, glaucous beneath, 

 ovate, the base cordate, and the apex rounded. 

 The flowers are in a fairly close head, nine in 

 the specimen which I have seen, and they are 

 broadly campanulate; the six or seven lobes are 

 not reflexed; the colour is lavender-pink with 

 numerous small, dull-red spots on the upper part ; 

 there is no perceptible calyx, and there are 12 or 

 more stamens with white filaments and brown 

 anthers. This is a distinct and good garden Rho- 

 dodendron, being probably a presentable ever- 

 green at all times, and if it flowers freely it ought 

 to be very decorative. It was described by 

 Franchet in 1895 as forming a shrub 3 metres 



There is a figure of it in the Journal of 

 the French Horticultural Society for 1900, w T hich 

 contains an excellent paper on new Chinese trees 

 and shrubs by M. Bois, in which no fewer than 69 

 new species of Rhododendron are briefly de- 

 scribed. They include R. ciliicalyx, R. decorum, 

 R Delavayi, R. intricatum, R. irroratum, R. 

 lacteum, R. racemosum, R. rubiginosum, R. 

 Souliei, and R. yunnanense. W* W. 



high 



BOTANISING IN BULGARIA. 



Only 30 years ago Sofia was a squalid, 

 Turkish village, but now sloth and dirt are 

 replaced by industry and thrift, and the 

 city has forged ahead in American style. Elec- 

 tric trams traverse the broad, well-paved 

 thoroughfares, and many of the streets have 

 either single or double avenues of Robinia or 



Ailanthus. 



Near to the Royal palace are pleasant, well- 

 shaded gardens where the people sit in the cool 

 of the evening. There is also a large public 

 park, a Rose garden being a feature in June. 

 In places Prunus Pissardii may be seen laden 

 with fruit, which is said to make good preserve. 

 A curious eastern custom is observed in Bul- 

 garia ; it is the offering to a visitor of a spoonful 

 of jam followed by a glass of water. Some of the 

 preserves used for the purpose are rather uncom- 

 mon, such as that made from the Cornelian 

 Cherry ; even the petals of the Madonna Lily 

 (Lilium candidum) are given in a sweet syrup. 



On June 17 I had an interview with the King 

 and Queen, both of whom are keen botanists, 

 and know the native plants well. To their 

 courtesy and kindness I owe much of the 

 pleasure of my visit to the country. In the 



natural hybrid from the Tyrol, and Achillea 

 Kellereri (see fig. 113), another hybrid having A. 

 clypeolata and pseudo-pectinata as its parents 

 For the rock garden the latter hybrid is one of 

 the best of its family, for throughout the summer 

 the plant is seldom without a few umbels of 

 white flowers, and the long, silvery leaves are 

 always beautiful. In Ireland it seems perfectly 

 hardy, but Mr. A. E. Bowles informs me it was 

 killed last winter by cold 

 Walt ham Cross. 



in his garden at 



Geum Borisii is a natural hybrid between 

 G. bulgaricum and reptans ; it was found in 

 the Rilo Mountains, and was named after 

 Prince Boris. The rockery at the Sofia Palace 

 gardens is rich in rare Ferns and Orchids, 

 includes also fine groups of Haberlea rhodo- 

 pensis and H. Ferdinandi-Coburgii. The summer 

 bedding is very similar to our own, but Monsieur 

 Delmard, the Director of the Palace gardens, 

 tells me they have always to be on the watch 

 or a hailstorm may spoil everything. The hail- 

 storms are extremely heavy, and leaves of such 

 plants as Docks and Veratrums are torn to. 

 ribbons on the mountains. Bombs are always 

 kept in readiness in the garden, and are fired at 

 the approach of a storm, causing the hail to fall 

 on another place. 



[Photograph by C. F. Ball, 



FlG. 113. — ACHILLEA kellereri: flowers white. 



(A hybrid from A. clypeolata and A. pseudo-pectinata.) 



course of conversation the King remarked that 

 English nurserymen are doing their best to ex- 

 terminate some rare plants. He instanced Lilium 

 Jankas, which formerly grew on Vitosha, but is 

 now no longer to be found on the mountain. His 

 Majesty is doing much to make the native Pinus 

 Peuke popular, and has large plantations of it. 

 Last year he also sent to Turkey an expedition 

 to Pirin to introduce P. leucodermis. A fair 

 quantity of seed was obtained, and some distri- 

 buted in England and Ireland, has germinated 

 well. 



In the palace gardens is a fine collection of 

 Alpines, containing some particularly interesting 

 plants collected on the Pirin expedition. Leonto- 

 podium alpinum Pirini is a new and distinct 

 form ; the foliage and bracts are beautifully 

 white, and broader than those of the type. 

 Astragalus physocalyx has long pinnate leaves, 

 and bunches of green, inflated pods. Saxifraga 

 Spruneri and Viola Clementiana were also col- 

 lected in the Pirin district. Herr Kellerer, who 

 has charge of the King's alpine gardens, was the 

 collector of these plants. His name is familiar 

 in Saxifraga Kellereri, Primula Kellereri, a 



Sofia is well situated in a plain surrounded by 

 picturesque mountain ranges; Vitosha for 

 the end of the Rhodope range, and is the nignes* 

 mountain near Sofia (see fig. 114). Some ot WJ 

 plants of the plains are interesting. The annu 

 Larkspur takes the place of the Poppy 

 England, and often makes the Cornfields ; » 

 glorious patch of blue and purple. M£ 

 (Love in a Mist) is also abundant in pia»- 

 Euphorbias by the roadside give a glow of }eiio , 

 but on Vitosha the bracts of E. Cyparissias ^ 

 changed to a deep blood-red. In waste gr ^ 

 Verbascums form pyramids of yellow, an ^ 

 very numerous ; among the commoner km & 

 with are V. decorum, V. pannosum, * 

 phlomoides, with V. phceniceum occurring 

 and again. * . f 



Digitalis laevigata soon takes P°f essl ^ ing 

 arable land. It is a distinct plant, gro* 



2 feet to 3 feet high, and has a ^ ons ^ ' an d 

 with long, hanging, white lip. I>- u V icrlier 

 D. grandiflora are both abundant m tne 1^^ 

 regions. Coronilla varia makes the dry ^ 



pretty with its rambling stems and pink n ^ 

 Salvia argentea rises up here and there J 



