424 



TREES AND SHRUBS 



Name. 



Rhododendron 

 Fortune! 



Country or 



Origin and 



Natural Order 



China 



Colour 



AND 



Season. 



General Remarks. 



White, withj 

 deep pink 

 suffusion, 

 and very 

 fragrant ; 

 May and 

 early June 



R. Smirnowi 



Native of Cauca- 

 sus. Flowered 

 for the first time 

 in England at 

 Kew in 1893 



Bright 

 rosy-lilac ; 

 April and 



May. 



Thiselton-Dyer. They bloom 

 profusely, the flowers being 

 very deep rose with dust- 

 brownish blotches at the base ; 

 the chief difference is that the 

 flowers of the former are 

 paler than those of the latter. 

 An interesting hybrid raised 

 at Kew by crossing R. For- 

 tunei with the variety Meteor 

 has flowered well for the last 

 four years. The cross was 

 made in 1893, ^"'^ 'he plants 

 flowered when only a few 

 inches high. Several plants 

 have now grown to a height 

 of 2J feet. The flowers are in 

 compact, rounded trusses, 

 and appear in May ; they are 

 delicate pink, and fragrant. 

 The great peculiarity of the 

 hybrid is that no plant has 

 perfect stamens, some being 

 full size but barren, others 

 reduced to mere specks, and 

 occasionally they are quite 

 absent. 

 This is a handsome species, of 

 compact growth, and 3 feet 

 to 6 feet high, with large, 

 deep-green leaves, covered on 

 the underside with quite a 

 dense, whitish, wool-like sub- 

 stance. The flowers are from 

 2J inches to 3 inches across, 

 and in shapely trusses. Both 

 at Kew and in the nursery of 

 Mr. George Paul many hy- 

 brids have been raised. The 

 first raised at Kew resulted 

 from crossing the species with 

 the scarlet-flowered garden 

 hybrid Johnsoni in 1893. It 

 flowered when four years old, 

 and was of dwarf growth, 

 with rosy-red flower. Of nu- 

 merous other hybrids raised 

 since then three resulted from 

 crosses made in May 1896; 

 they flowered in May 1902, 

 and are so far the best. One 

 of these was raised by cross- 

 ing with the variety pur- 

 pureum splendens; this has 

 trusses of purplish flowers. 

 Another claims R. Fortune! 

 as its male parent ; it has 

 large fragrant flowers with 

 five or six petals, pink, and 

 arranged in shapely trusses. 

 In the third case kewense 



