DISTRIBUTION 



15 



the section Tsutsutsi. The other two Chinese species are R. Seniavinii 

 and R. Mariae, and these are apparently rare and confined to the east- 

 central and south-central provinces. 



In Liukiu the gaudy-flowered R. scabrum is endemic, but was long 

 ago taken to the gardens of southern Japan where it is a common plant 

 to-day. This species has the largest flowers of all Azaleas, and in a 

 wild state and in gardens where it flowers freely is strikingly conspic- 

 uous. Unfortunately in the Occident its tendency is to flower sparingly. 

 I strongly suspect that R. phoeniceum, unknown as a wild plant though 

 introduced from Canton about 1824, and the popular stock for grafting 

 the "Indian Azaleas" of western gardens, is specifically not really 

 distinct from R. scabrum. 



Although eight species grow wild in Formosa, Azaleas cannot be 

 called a prominent feature of the vegetation. The red-flowered R. Old- 

 hamii is widespread, and in districts in the north like Mt. Daiton and 

 round Lake Candidius in the centre of the island it is fairly abundant. 

 On grass-clad mountain slopes east of Ari-san the pretty, pink-flowered 

 R. rtibropilosum is plentiful. The others, so far as my personal knowl- 

 edge goes, are local if not actually rare plants. Lastly, on Luzon in the 

 Philippine Islands grows R. svbsessile, the most southern representative 

 of the group. 



The distribution and the number of the species in the four groups 

 are shown in the following table: — 



Tsutsutsi Sciadorhodion Rhodora Pentanthera 



Japan 



Korea 



Liukiu . 



Formosa 



China 



Philippines 



Pontus region, Caucasus,") 



Lithuania, Poland and > 



southwestern Russia ) 



8 

 2 

 3 

 7 

 5 

 1 



4 

 2 



1 



2 



