HEATH FAMILY 



The ancestry and history of our cultivated Rhododendrons 

 are most admirabt}' given by Professor Sargent in "The Silva 

 of North America." He says : 



The cultivated varieties of Rhododendrons are of garden origin and mixed 

 blood. These are chiefly of four races, Indian Azaleas, Ghent Azaleas, The Ca- 

 tawluiense Rhododendrons and Javanese Rhododendrons. The Indian Azaleas 

 of the garden are improved forms of A*. Indicum^ a native of China and Japan 

 which owes its name to ihe fact tliat it was first sent to Europe from India; in its 

 native countries it is a variable plant \\'ith persistent or deciduous leaves and 

 small and usually brick-red flowers ; for centuries it has been cultivated by the 

 Chinese and Japanese who value it as a chief ornament of their gardens, al- 

 though improvenient in the size, form, and coloring of its flowers is due to the 

 skill of European gardeners, who, especially in Belgium, have devoted much at- 

 tention to this plant. The race of Ghent Azaleas has been produced by cross- 

 ing the yellow-flowered Oriental R. Jf.n'/un with the North American R. ciilcn- 

 dulaccum R. viscosnui and R. niid'ijloriiin. and then by crossing their hybrid 

 progeny with each other and with the eastern Asiatic R. s;incnse and later with 

 the Californian R. occidt-ntjle and with R. arborescefis of the Alleghany Moun- 

 tains. 



The product of these crosses and of years of careful selection carried on 

 principally in Belgium and England is a race of hardy shrubs with fragrant flow- 

 ers in colors passing from white through yellow and orange to pink and red. 



The Catawbicnse I-^hododendrons have been produced by crossing R. catam- 

 biense, a native of the high summits of the southern Alleghany Mountains 

 which it sometimes covers with vast thickets, with A*. Pont'uum, the offspring 

 being again crossed with R. arborcum and other Indian species with bright 

 colored flowers or with the Xorth American R. maximum. The race of Javan- 

 ese Rhododendrons, conspicuous for their brilliantly colored flowers and their 

 habit of flowering continuously, has been obtained by English gardeners by in- 

 terbreeding R. yavanicum and other Malayan species with persistent foliage 

 and yellow, orange, and scarlet flowers. 



SOURWOOD. SORREL-TREE 



Oxyde'ndnim arbhrcuui. 



OxydenJriim, of Greek derivation, means sour tree. 



A slender tree reaching the maximum height of sixty feet, with 

 slender spreading branches and oblong, round-topped head. Ranges 

 from Pennsylvania along the Alleghany Mountains to Florida and 

 Alabama, westward through Ohio to southern Indiana and south- 

 ward through Arkansas and Louisiana to the coast. 



Bark. — Gray with a reddish tinge, deeply furrowed and scaly. 

 Branchlets at first light yellow green, later reddish brown, 



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