128 



Garden and Forest. 



[May 9, 1888. 



have been raised by crossings Asiatic species. Its parents were 

 R. ciliatiiin and R. Dallwtisia. The latter is a straggling shrul? 

 six or eight feet high, growing upon trunks of trees, with im- 

 mense white tubular flowers, in open terminal umbellate heads, 

 which, with the straggling habit, this hyljrid inherits. The 

 flowers, of wKich there are rarely more than two or three in 

 each umliel, are two and a half to three and a half inches long, 

 white, tinged with pink, and in shape not unlike those of 

 Liliiiiii longiflormii. This Rhododendron, which to persons 

 who only know our native species hardly seems to be a Rho- 

 dodendron at all, is an excellent cool green-house plant, which 

 can be had in bloom at any time from March to May. It re- 

 cjuires the same treatment as the Indian Azaleas, and its 

 blooming period may be retarded in the same manner. The 

 not very good habit and its slow growthare the only drawbacks 

 to this plant, whicli should be more often seen than it is in 

 American collections. .S'. 



nearly a quarter of an acre of ground with its numerous 

 distinct trunks and wide spreading top, and is an object of 

 rnuch interest to all visitiors to this remote corner of the 

 Florida peninsula. 



The Florida Wild Fig, like many other species of this 

 genus, is parasitic. Its seed germinates upon the trunks or 

 branches of other trees, where they are dropped by birds. 

 The roots of the Fig, as it grows, gradually extend down 

 and around the trunk of its host, which sooner or later 

 inevitably perishes in their vigorous embrace, and in time 

 reach the earth, grow together, and form the first and 

 principal trunk of the tree. Aerial roots are constantly devel- 

 oped from the branches, and after becoming fi.xed in the 

 soil, grow into trunks, which often exceed the original stem 

 in size; and this tree, like many of its kindred, the Banyans 



The Wild Fig I'ree of Florida. 



Plant Notes. 



The Wild Fig Tree (jf Florida. 



OUR illustration on this page represents, it is safe to say, 

 one of the most remarkable individual trees which 

 can be found within the limits of the United States. It is a 

 specimen of the wild Florida Fig {Fiais aurea), which 

 grows in what is locally known as the "hunting ground," 

 a rich, wooded hummock on the shores of Bay Biscayne, 

 about ten miles west of the mouth of the Miami River, in 

 the extreme southern part of Florida. This tree covers 



of the East, thus gradually extends itself over a large area. 



Two species of Fig are found growing spontaneously in 

 the semi-tropical portions of Florida. Of these, Ficiis aurea is 

 the most common and by far the handsomest. It grows on 

 many of the keys from Key West to Cape Florida, and extends 

 up the east coast to the Indian River region, but it has not 

 been detected on any part of the west coast. There are 

 specimens of this species in the Kew Herbarium, from the 

 island of New Providence (Brace 356), and it is probably 

 to be found on the other Bahama Islands. 



The Florida Fig is a large evergreen, or sub-evergreen tree, 

 with a trunk sometimes three to four feet in diameter, with 



