ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 97 



It is a pity to have to discontinue the use of Sweet's name R. sinense in favor 

 of one which has been so much misused, but this cannot be avoided. Blume's 

 description is perfectly good, but this publication seems to have been entirely over- 

 looked, all authors quoting him in his Bijdragm Flora Nederlandsch Indie, which 

 was published two years later. Siebold and Zuccarini in 1846 were the first to apply 

 Blume's name to the Japanese plant and initiated the confusion which has existed 

 ever since. 



X Rhododendron Kosterianum Schneider, III. Handb. Laubholzk. 

 II. 499 (1911). 



Azalea mollis x sinensis Pynaert & van Geert in Rev. Hort. Belg. XVII. 121 fig. 

 18 (1891); XX, 277, t. (1894). — Rodigas in Tijd. Boomt. 1893, 183, fig. 25. 



Rhododendron sinense W. Watson, Rhodod. and Azaleas, 77 (1911), in part, 

 not Sweet. 



Rhododendron sinense X R. molle Schneider, III. Handb. Laubholzk. II. 499 

 (1911), as a synonym. 



Rhododendron moUe Millais, Rhodod. 211 (1917), in part, not G. Don, nor 

 Miquel. 



Rhododendron molle X sinense Millais, Rhodod. 212 (1917). 

 It appears to be the concensus of opinion that Anthony Koster & Sons of Bos- 

 koop, Holland, began to cross R. sinense Sweet and R. japonicum Soring, about 

 1880 and to raise hybrids in commercial quantities. They were closely followed by 

 Anthony Waterer, Knap Hill, Surrey. But apparently neither were the first in 

 this field, for in the Florist and Pomologist for 1875, p. 282, William Tillery writes: 

 " In 1872 1 had six varieties of the showy hardy Azalea mollis from M. van Houtte 

 named as follows: — 'Isabellevan Houtte,' dark nankeen color, 'Madame Camille 

 van Langenhone,' white striped with rose and carmine, ' Nonpareil,' white bordered 

 with rose, 'Bbenezer Pyke,' half yellow, 'Centi Striatella' and 'Baroness Roth- 

 schild.' I find that all the varieties cross very readily with Azalea sinensis — the 

 yellow and white varieties, and I have many healthy seedlings this year from these 

 crosses." This would appear to be the beginning of the race. The work of these 

 pioneers has been emulated by others in Holland, Belgium and England and the re- 

 sult is a wealth of popular Azaleas with lovely flowers in exquisite shades of color. 

 For indoor decoration they are, in normal times, forced by the million in Europe 

 and America. As garden plants out-of-doors they thrive in many parts of England 

 and Millais is loud in their praise. While hardy in the gardens of New England the 

 plants are usually short lived, lack constitution and are even less satisfactory than 

 the " Gandavensis hybrids." The tender strain derived from the Chinese species 

 (ffi. molle) is unfortunately too potent, and though the plants struggle along for 

 a few years they are rarely satisfactory and generally at the end of a few years die. 

 It is a pity, for they are beautiful plants. In Horticulture, XXX. 71 (1919), there 

 is described a hybrid (" Miss Louisa Hunnewell ") raised in 1913 by Mr. T. D. 

 Hatfield, superintendent of the estate of Walter Hunnewell, Esq., Wellesley, Mass., 

 which is a cross between the pure species R. japowicum Suring. and R. molle G. 

 Don obtained from the Arnold Arboretum. It first flowered in 1917, and has an 

 orange-yellow corolla similar to that of "Anthony Koster" but even richer in 

 color; it proved "bud hardy " in the exceptionally severe winters of 1917-18 and 

 1919-20, and is a free grower. If this new Azalea fulfils expectations it will be a 

 most valuable addition to New England gardens. 



Another hybrid is: — 



X Rhododendron albicans Waterer apud Zabel in Mitt. Deutsch. 



