"hardy" rhododendrons 249 



defined in the minds of all garden lovers, but it is 

 convenient to subdivide them again: the Azaleas 

 into three smaller classes and the Rhododendrons 

 into two. 



AZALEA 



The three sections of Azalea may be briefly charac- 

 terized as follows: 



a. Rhodora: Flowers from a terminal bud, leafy 

 shoots from separate, axillary buds; corolla almost 

 two-lobed; stamens seven to ten. 



b. Pentanthera: Corolla funnel-form, stamens 

 five, otherwise as in Rhodora. 



c. Tsutsutsi: Flowers and shoots developed from 

 the same terminal bud. 



(a) The first section includes the Rhodora (R. 

 canadense) and R. Vaseyi, both good garden plants 

 which thrive best in moist soil and in the neigh- 

 borhood of water. The Rhodora grows wild from 

 Newfoundland to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 

 and in the North in May covers large areas of swampy 

 land with a sheet of bloom. This dwarf shrub, with 

 its small Tose-purple flowers, is so well-known that 

 further details are unnecessary. Early in May R. 

 Vaseyi opens its compact clusters of small pink flow- 

 ers before its leaves appear. This Azalea is an 



