22 DL. H. P. hanoe's supplement to 



specimen of Dr. Thwaitea's n. 1776, quoted by theln under 

 L. affinis, is certainly referable to i. trigona. L. chinensis. Lour., 

 grows in half-dried ricefields, or in damp grassy plains, and is 

 very abundant around Canton. It is perfectly glabrous, and 

 nearest L. trigona, but differs by its almost or quite simple stem, 

 sessile, oblong, or elliptic, entire, or slightly denticulate leaves, 

 much like those of L. anceps, Thunb. It is also of a deeper 

 tint, and the upper leaves, terminal portion of the stem, pedicels, 

 and calyx are most frequently of a purple tint. Loureiro de- 

 scribes it as procumbent or creeping; but, though I have ob- 

 served it for years, I have never seen a specimen otherwise than 

 quite strict and erect, like a Striga. 



'''B.hododendron ovatvun, PI. ; ex Maxim, in MM. Biolog. Bull. Acad. 

 Sc.P£tersb.ya.33S. (= Azalea ovata, Lindl.; Benth.Fl. Hongk. 201.) 



'Rhododendron indiciun, Sweet. ( = Azalea indica, Linn.; Benth. Fl. 

 Hongk. 201.) 



^Rhododendron Farrers, Tate; DC. Prod. vii. 725, ( = Azalea squa- 

 mata, Lindl.; Benth. Fl. Hongk. 201.) 

 The form and regularity or degree of irregularity of the co- 

 rolla, the number of stamens, and the persistence or deciduous- 

 ness of the foliage are so variously combined in different species, 

 and there are besides some with only half-deciduous or nearly 

 persistent leaves, that it appears quite impossible to admit the 

 genus Azalea as circumscribed by Mr. Bentham and other bota- 

 nists. Shododendron as limited by G. Don (including Mhodora 

 and Osmoihammus), seems to form a far more natural group. 

 -The genus, indeed, is in much the same case as Vaccimum, Ar- 

 butus, TMhaudia, Andromeda, and other members of the family, 

 which comprehend a variety of types linked to each other by 

 different gradations, so that there seem no alternatives than 

 either to regard each genus as a whole divided into a number of 

 sections, or else to raise each of these to generic rank. The 

 name Azalea should be reserved for the plant named Loiseleima 

 by Desvaux, and ChoMimledon by Link, which, as long ago 

 observed by Hooker and Arnott, and Babington, is the original 

 Azalea of Linnaeus (and therefore of course the type of the 

 genus), and the only one to which the name is applicable f. 



t Since the above was written, I have received, through the kindness of the 

 author, M. Maximowicz'B important memoir ' Ehododendreas Asia; orientalis,' 

 published at St. Petersburg in 1870. The author conclusively shows that 



