HEATH FAMILY 



The ancestrv and hisiorv of our cLiltivaled Rhododendrons 

 are most admirably given bv 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- 

 tawbiense Rhododendrons and Jaxanese Rhododendrons. The Indian Azaleas 

 of the garden are impro\'ed forms of A'. Indnum, a nati\'c of China and Japan 

 which owes its name to the fact that it was first sent to Europe from India ; in its 

 native countries it is a \ariable plant with persistent or deciduous lea\'es and 

 small and usuall_\- l>rick-red fluwers ; for centuries it has been cultivated by the 

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

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

 skill of European gardeners, who, especially in Belgium, have de\"oted much at- 

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

 ing the yellow-flowered Oriental R. /hiviim with the Xorth American R. calcn- 

 dulaccum R. viscosnm and R. iiiiji floruDi , and then b\- crossing their hybrid 

 progeny with each other and with the eastern Asiatic R. .■micfi^^e and later with 

 the Cahfornian R. occidcntale and with R. arborescens 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 Catawbiense Rhododendrons have been produced by crossing R.cataw- 

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

 which it sometimes covers with vast thickets, with A'. F-'oid'uum , the offspring 

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

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

 ese Rhododendrons, conspicuous for their brilliantlv colored flowers and their 

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

 terbreeding R. Jj-\uiiLum and other Malayan bpecies with persistent foliage 

 and yellow, orange, and scarlet fluwers. 



SOURWOOD. SORREL-TREE 



Oxydcudnini arbbrtum . 



OxvdtiiJnim, 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 Penns\lvania along the .A.lleghany 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. 



192 



