290 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



A. Falconeri (Thamnocalamus Falconeri). — Frequently 

 grown as A. falcata. In the gardens of Cornwall, South 

 Ireland, &c, it is a most beautiful plant, sending up 

 graceful arching stems 24 feet long, clothed with bright- 

 green foliage. In the midlands it is killed to the ground 

 nearly ever winter. North India. 



A. Fortunei. Stems tufted, 2 to 3 feet high; leaves 

 handsomely striped with white, quite hardy. Japan. 



A. Hindsii (Bambusa erccta)— Stems erect, 10 feet 

 high, with long dark-green narrow leaves. A variety 

 called graminea is about 5 feet high, and the stems are 

 yellowish. Japan. 



A. japonica {Bambusa Metake). — Stems 8 to 12 feet 

 high, with larger leaves than any other hardy species of 

 that height. A well-known and very hardy Bamboo. 

 Japan, 1850. 



A. macrosperma. — This is the sole representative of the 

 Bamboo family found in the United States and Canada. 

 In the Southern States it forms the dense thickets near 

 the banks of rivers, &c, known as " Cane-brakes ". Here 

 it grows about 5 feet high. 



A. nitida. — Stems slender, 8 to 10 feet high, which 

 become dark-purple; leaves 3 inches long, \ inch wide, 

 and of a rich vivid green. One of the most elegant and 

 attractive of all Bamboos. China, 1891. 



A. nobilis. — Nearly allied to A. Falconeri, but differs 

 in the stems, which are stained with purplish-brown near 

 the nodes. Stems 24 feet long in Cornwall. It is hardier 

 than A. Falconeri, but is frequently killed to the ground 

 in the Midlands. North India or China. 



A. Simoni. — The tallest of the truly hardy Bamboos, its 

 stems reaching a height of about 20 feet. Its leaves are 

 8 to 12 inches long by 1 inch wide. A rapidly-spreading 

 plant which should have an isolated position. Japan, 

 1862. 



A. Vcitchii. — Stems 1 to 2 feet high, with narrowly 

 oblong leaves, which are dark -green in summer but turn 

 white at the margins in autumn and winter. A dwarf 

 rapidly-spreading plant. Japan, 1889. 



Aucuba. — The familiar mottled-leaved variety of A. 

 japonica was introduced to this country from Japan as 

 long ago as 1783, and is the female form. The male or 

 pollen-bearing form was introduced from the same country 

 by Mr. Fortune in 1850. The varieties of both are now 

 exceedingly numerous, and large specimens of the green- 

 leaved sorts, as well as of the old variegated form, laden 

 with their large scarlet oblong berries, are not rare. If 

 exposed to strong winds the young wood of this shrub is 

 very liable to be destroyed. 



It succeeds well in town gardens. The following are 

 varieties distinguished by nurserymen. Male: — picta, 

 bicolor, sulphurea, and ovata, with variegated foliage; vera 

 and grand is, with green foliage. Female: — sulphurea, 

 latimaculata, axid aurca marginata, with variegated foliage; 

 longifolia, vera, and angustifolia, with green foliage. The 

 variety luteocarpa bears yellowish berries. 



Azalea. — Although most botanists now unite the 

 species referred here with Rhododendron, it is more con- 

 venient for horticultural purposes to keep them separate, 

 especially as there is no difficulty in distinguishing the 

 commonly-cultivated species of both sections. The typical 

 species are rarely seen in cultivation, having been super- 

 seded by improved garden varieties. These hardy flower- 

 ing shrubs are so beautiful, affording as they do a great 

 variety of colour combined with the most delicious per- 

 fume, that their value in gardens can scarcely be over- 

 estimated; they represent almost every shade of scarlet, 

 crimson, orange, yellow, pink, and white, while in some 



there is a combination of these colours. The following 

 are the principal species from which the varieties in cul- 

 tivation have been raised. 



A. arborescens. — A bush, 10 to 15 feet high, flowers in 

 which the corolla tube is longer than the lobes, differing 

 in this respect from all the rest. North America, 1818. 



A. calendulacea. — A shrub, from 3 to 6 feet high, with 

 handsome hairy, not clammy, red or yellow flowers. Even 

 in the wild state this is a very variable plant. North 

 America, 1806. 



A. indica var. arnoena. — In the neighbourhood of Lon- 

 don and farther south this well-known greenhouse plant 

 makes a charming hardy evergreen. 



A. ledifolia (A. indica alba). — In the warmer parts of 

 these islands this is a useful evergreen, and also one of 

 the most beautiful of early summer flowering shrubs. It 

 forms a compact low bush, and produces numerous pure- 

 white flowers like those of the true Indian Azalea. Per- 

 fectly hardy at Kew, and largely grown in some parts of 

 Ireland and Cornwall. Japan, China. 



A. mollis (sinensis) (fig. 351). — A fine showy species 

 from Japan, of which there are now many varieties. 

 Although known best as a pot plant, and grown largely 



wasi 



Fig. 351.— Azalea mollis. 



for early forcing, it is as hardy as any of its allies, and 

 is a most useful shrub for the open garden. It has been 

 crossed with the Ghent Azaleas and A. occidentalis. 



A. nudiflora. — Similar to A. calendulacea, but with 

 rather naked flowers, in wild varieties usually of some 

 shade of pink or purple. North America, 1734. 



A. occidentalis. — The latest flowering Azalea (June 

 and July) Flowers white and very fragrant ; the plants 

 are in full leaf before they fade. California. A hand- 

 some, vigorous shrub. 



A. pontica {flava). — This species grows about 6 fee*" 

 high, and has pale-yellow clammy flowers in the original 

 variety. Asia Minor, 1793. 



A. rhombicum. — A distinct early-flowering shrub, often 

 being in full beauty during early April. The leaves are 



