126 



CHINESE AZALEA OVATA. 



trees. When the time of winter pruning arrives, an abundance 

 of fruit buds are found to have developed themselves adven- 

 titiously, and the dexterous, but too frequently misguided, 

 pruner finds that this simple operation has accomplished more 

 than the knife, and that his " occupation/' is almost "gone." 



The same practice is applied here to the wall and espalier 

 trees (trained horizontally) with the same results. 



If I am asked to give the rationale of my mode of treatment, 

 I will say that it is one of many modes of inducing early pro- 

 ductiveness ; such as frequent removal, ringing, planting in poor 

 soil, root-pruning, &c, but it is one which inflicts no injury upon 

 the tree, as is the case sometimes in ringing. I will conclude 

 by the following extract from the invaluable ' Theory of Hor- 

 ticulture :' — " Whatever produces excessive vigour in plants is 

 favourable to the formation of leaf-buds, and unfavourable to 

 the production of flower-buds : while, on the other hand, such 

 circumstances as tend to diminish luxuriance and to check rapid 

 vegetation, without affecting the health of the individual, are 

 more favourable to the production of flower-buds than of leaf- 

 buds." 



Nuneham, 2>0th October, 1846. 



XVI. — Note upon Azalea Ovata, a new Species introduced 

 from China. By Mr. Robert Fortune, Curator of the Botanic 

 Garden of the Society of Apothecaries at Chelsea. (With a 

 coloured Plate.) 



(Communicated Feb. 23, 1847.) 



This is another of those fine flowering shrubs lately introduced 

 from the north of China by the Horticultural Society. It is a 

 very distinct species, and was named and described by Professor 

 Lindley at p. 149 of the first volume of this Journal. I met 

 with it, for the first time, in the autumn of 1843, and sent home 

 seeds by the overland mail, which were found in a good state for 

 vegetating when they arrived in England. Subsequently I also 

 sent living plants in Ward's cases on several different occasions, 

 part of which arrived in safety. From these importations the 

 plant has been extensively distributed to the Fellows of the 

 Society, either bearing its present name or that of " Azalea 

 274." 



It was found growing on the sides of the green tea hills in 

 the province of Chekiang, and also on some of the islands of the 

 Chusan Archipelago, where it is called the King-sze-wha, or 

 " silver silk flower," by the Northern Chinese. There are two 



