
54 TREES AND SHRUBS 


inches long by 2 inches wide; flower lilac purple, lobes rounded, 1% inches 
high, and somewhat broader; branches erect. High mountains of Virginia 
and Georgia. ‘This species has been most prolific in new forms under cultiva- 
tion, especially when crossed with 2. ardoreum from India and with 2. Pon- 
ticum from the Levant. 
Rhododendron Indicum, Sweet. (Azalea Indica, Linneus.) Is the 
common Azalea of the florists. From Japan and China. Common in conser- 
vatories, 
Rhododendron maximum, Zizn@us. MOUNTAIN LAUREL, GREAT RHO- 
DODENDRON. Is from 3 to 15 feet high; branchlets erect, younger parts not 
scaly-scurfy ; flower-stalks sticky hairy; flowers nearly white or rose-colored, 
greenish-spotted in the throat; leaves 4 to lo inches long. Common in our 
mountains along the streams. 
Rhododendron Ponticum, Zzzn@us. Is alow shrub from the Levant; 
leaves lanceolate, tapering towards the base; flower purple, open bell-shaped ; 
branches stiff, erect. 
Rhododendron punctatum, Andrews. The evergreen leaves lanceolate, 
not very thick; branches spreading or drooping, 4 to 6 feet high; flowers rose- 
colored, 1 inch long, wide-spreading, exceeding the stamens and pistils. 
Southern mountains. 
EUPHORBIACEZ. Spurge Family. 
‘Plants with mostly milky, acrid juice, and flowers of very various struc- 
ture,’’ but which usually have the sexes separated (on the same or on different 
plants). ‘The ovary and fruit commonly 3-celled, and with a single or at 
most a pair of hanging ovules or seeds in each cell.” A hard family to limit 
by description, and, with us being mostly herbaceous, but few come within the 
limits of this Catalogue. Perhaps no family of plants is characterized by a 
greater diversity of products: foods, poisons, drugs, caoutchouc, oils, all come 
from this family. 
Buxus. Box. Pod 3-horned and 3-celled, each cell with 2 ovules or 
seeds; bracted flowers in clusters, usually in the axils of the evergreen, oppo- 
site leaves. Wood much used in the arts, especially for finer work. 
Buxus Japonica, Muller. JAPAN Box. Readily recognized by the rudi- 
mentary ovary, which is as long as the calyx; otherwise much like the common 
Box. The leaves vary much in color. 
Buxus sempervirens, Zzznz@us. COMMON Box. Well known by its 
small, thick, dark-green leaves. Native of the Mediterranean region. Varies 
much in the color of its leaves, and has the following varieties in cultivation : 
argentea, SILVER-VARIEGATED Box; aurea, GOLDEN-VARIEGATED Box; 
myrtifolia, MyrTLE-LEAVED Box; suffruticosa, DwArF Box; thymifolia, 
THYME-LEAVED Box. 
Buxus Sinensis, ? CHINESE Box. Is described in the catalogues as 
a “native of China; with large foliage, greatly diversified in the various kinds,” 
which are given as—varieties * angustifolia, NARROW-LEAVED CHINESE 

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