RHODODENDRUM. 



wheel-fhaped. — Native of the alps of Auftria, Carniola, and 

 the north of Italy. Firft railed from feed in England, in 

 1786, by the Ikilful Mr. Loddiges of Hackney. A 

 fhrubby nearly procumbent plant, much {mailer than the 

 laft, and differing efientially in the more thick and coriaceous 

 texture of its leaves, which are of a dark green, and highly 

 polifhed, with fcarcely any vifible veins. The elegant pur- 

 ^\ifc\foivers are not above an inch broad. Their calyx has 

 hair)-, convex, not flat, fegments. Anthers deep purple. 



6. R. caucafeum. Caucafian Rhododendrum. Pall. Rolf. 

 V. I. p. 1. 46. t. 31. Willd. n. 6. Ait. n. 5. Curt. Mag. 

 t. 1 145. - Stem decumbent. Leaves rugged above ; down v 

 and rufty beneath. Umbels terminal. Corolla nearly wheel- 

 fhaped. Native of the loftielt fummits of mount Caucafus, 



near perpetual fnow, where, according to Pallas, nothing 

 elfe, befides Whortle-berries and Juniper, grow. Introduced 

 at Kew, by fir Jofeph Banks, in 1803. Mr. Loddiges 

 finds it flower more freely under his care than the follow- 

 ing. A low ihrub, fpreading on the ground, but of a 

 itouter habit, with larger more coriaceous foliage, than any 

 of the foregoing. The leaves are elliptical, ihilked, three 

 or four inches tang; convex and of a dark fliining green, with 

 a rugofe furface, abov^ ; concave, veiny, and covered with 

 fine rufty down, underneath. Footjlalks alfo downy. 

 Flowers large, moderately concave ; white or pale fledi- 

 coloured within, their upper fegments dotted about the bale 

 with o-reen ; the outfide crimfon. They form terminal um- 

 bels, with large, oblong, concave, permanent braSeas at the 

 bafe. 



7. R. chryfanthum. Yellow Rhododendrum. Linn. 

 Suppl. 237. "Willd. n. 7. Ait. n. 6. Pall. Rolf. v. 1. p. 1. 

 44. t. 30. ( R. officinale ; Salif. Parad. t. 80. Andromeda, 

 n. 9; Gmel. Sib. v. 4. iz'l. t. 54.) — Stem decumbent. 

 Leaves reticulated, fmooth on both fides ; paler beneath. 

 Umbels terminal. Corolla nearly wheel-fhaped. Native of 

 the mountains of Siberia, Kamtfchatka, and Beering's 

 ifland. Introduced by Mr. Jofeph Bufh, in 1796, into our 

 gardens, where it flowers, though rarely in the middle of 

 fummer, like the laft. Some have imagined thefe two 

 fpecies to be varieties of each other ; but the prefent 

 differs efientially in having the leaves quite fmooth and naked 

 beneath, not to mention the uniformly yellow colour of the 



foyers. An infufion of the young leaves is -much cele- 

 brated in Ruffia as a-cure for the rheumatifm. This medi- 

 cine is taken internally, to promote perfpiration. Some 

 have recommended it for venereal complaints. Willdenow 

 iuftly obferves, that this fhrub is altogether different from 

 R. dauricum, to which the younger Linnaeus, by fome ftrange 

 miftake, compares it. 



8. R. ponticum. Purple Rhododendrum. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 562. Willd. n. 8. Ait. n. 7. Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 78. Pall. 

 Rolf. v. 1. p. I. 43. t. 29. Curt. Mag. t. 650. Andr. 

 Repof. t. 379. (Chamxrhododendros pontica maxima, folio 

 laurocerafi, flore cxruleo-purpuralcente ; Tourn. V.. 



v. 2.99.) — Leaves oblong, fmooth and even on both fides. 

 Corymbs terminal. Segments of the calyx oval, obtufe. 

 Corolla bell-ihaped, fpreading. — Native of the Levant, in 

 r.oift fhady places. Common in the European gardens, 

 where it blooms magnificently in the open ground in June, 

 and, by forcing in a pot, may be had much earlier, as 

 «lmoft everv window and balcony in London evinces. This 

 ihrub is ufually i\\e or fix feet high, with brown fpread- 

 ing branches. The haves are evergreen, a fpan in length, 

 fttid-lanceolate, or oblong, more or lefs acute; fliining, 

 dark green, even and fmooth above ; equally fmooth, but 

 paler beneath, contrary to Willdcnow's definition. The 

 large purple jioouers graw, many together, in large, terminal, 

 corymbole clutter?. The gardeners obtain mule varieties, 



fome of them with deciduous leaves, between this plant and 

 the Azaleas. Tournefort thought the poifonous quality of 

 the honey about Pontus, mentioned by ancient authors, 

 might be partly ow'ing to this plant ; at leaft this feems to b< 

 what produced a fort of honey called Moenomenon, becaufe, 

 as Pliny relates, it took away the reafon of thofe who ate 

 it. What is generally reported of the honey of Pontus 

 appears, however, by what Tournefort has collected, to 

 belong to that yielded by Azalea pontica, our beautiful yel- 

 low Azalea ; and this is confirmed by what the Turks told 

 him of the dangerous effluvia of the flowers of this laft men- 

 tioned plant. 



9. R. arboreum. Indian Tree Rhododendrum. Sm. 

 Exot. Bot. v. 1. 9. t. 6. — Leaves elliptic-lanceol. 

 fmooth and mining above; downy beneath. Corvmb 

 niinal. Capfule of ten cells. Stem arboreous. — Found bv 

 lieutenant-colonel Hardwicke, in the Sewalic chain of 

 mountains, which feparates the plains of Hir.dooftan, from 



I limmaleh mountains. It generally grows in forefts of 

 oak, in elevated fituations, where the foil is black vegetable 

 mould, on a ftony bed. The flowers appear in March and 

 April ; the feeds are ripened*in May or June. The natives 

 know this tree by the name of Boorans, and ufe the wood 

 for the ftocks of mufquets. The Jhm is truly arboreous, 

 riling in a columnar form to the height of twenty feet ; its 

 r.om fixteen to twenty-four inches. The bark 

 is light as cork, flaking off in large portions. Branches 

 afcending, crooked and brittle, leafy at their extremities. 

 Leaves fhaped much like the laft, but diftinguifhed bv tlu 

 denfe, white, iilky downinefs of their under furface, 

 Flcwtrs in large terminal clufters, of a rich deep crimfon, 

 of little fragrance and fhort duration, their corolla fhaped 

 much like the laft, but we do not find it fpotted within. 

 Segments of the calyx (hallow. Germen elliptical, white and 

 downy, with ten furrows. Capfule of the fame fhape, with 

 ten cells, an unique inftance, as far as we know, in the pre- 

 fent genus ; but certainly, all things confidered, not authori- 

 fing any generic feparation of this fpecies from the reft. 

 We know not whether the feeds of this noble tree have ve- 

 getated in England. It would probably fucceed in the mo- 

 derate warmth of a confervatory. 



10. R. maximum. Laurel-leaved Rhododendrum. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 563. Willd. 11.9. Ait. n. 8. Purfhn. 1. Curt. 

 Mag. t. 951. (R. foliis nitidis ovalibus, &c. ; Trew Ehret. 

 t. 66. Kalmia foliis lanceolato-ovatis, &c. ; Mill. Ic. 

 t. 22S.) — Leaves oblong ; convex and reticulated above; 

 fmooth and pale beneath. Corymbs furmounted by the 

 blanches. Segments of the calyx oval, obtufe. Corolla 

 bell-lhaped, fpreading. — Native of mountainous fituations 

 in North America, near rivulets and lakes, flowering from 

 June to Auguft. Pur/h. Though, according to Mr. Aiton, 

 introduced by Peter Collinfon in 1736, twenty-feven years 

 before the ponticum, it is beyond comparifon lefs common in 

 our gardens. Botanifts have not very clearly defined the 

 fpecific difference between thefe two fpecies. The leaves 

 of the prefent are moil convex, and more fenfibly reticu- 

 lated with minute funk veins, on their upper fide, while the 

 under is itill more pale, than in ponticum. The flowers of 

 the maximum are more delicately coloured, having the red 

 and white tints of an apple-bloffom, while the green and 

 yellow dots on their upper fegment are ftrikingly confpi- 

 cuous. All their fegments are more elliptical, concave, 

 and far lefs dilated and wavy than in ponticum. The injforef- 

 cence moreover is almoft umbellate, and more denfe, Handing 

 between two branches of the prefent year, which always rife 

 confiderably above it. There are mule varieties in the gardens 

 between thefe fpecies. Mr. Purfh mentions two American 

 varieties, or perhaps fpecies ; one with flatter leaves, and 



fmaller 



