ROCK ROSES. 



43 



veins and ribs of deep brown. It was first in- 

 troduced from New Zealand some half-century 

 since, but is rare from its proving in general 

 so short-lived. Its fine foliage is a feature in 

 the vegetation of its native country, where it 

 forms unbranched stems some 20 feet high, 

 growing freely even in the lower mountain 

 regions, and valued by the natives for its fibre. 

 In this country it is only grown in the open 

 with success in the mildest parts of our shore- 

 lands, fine plants occurring here and there in 

 gardens of the south-west. It flowers more 

 rarely than the Common Club-Palm, bearing 

 a dense pendant cone-likecluster of small sweet 

 flowers which ripen seed in a good season. 

 There are many forms of this plant, the finest- 

 bearing leaves nearly 6 inches wide of the most 

 graceful habit. The named varieties include 

 atropurpurea, abroad-leaved form with the base 

 of the leaves and the lower midrib of a deep 

 purple ; lineata, with leaves 4 inches or more 

 wide, and the leaf-bases red and pink ; Veitchii, 

 with narrower leaves and veins, and leaf-bases 

 of deep reddish-crimson ; Dal/iereana, the 

 leaves of which are striped with yellow ; 

 and vera, a wild variety and the finest form 

 of all. Its leaves are 2 to 5 feet long, very 

 thick, leathery, and resistant, of dark 

 shining green, and sometimes reaching a 

 width of 6 inches. It is of dwarf habit, 

 and frequently shows a rich orange or 

 crimson shading in its veins and midribs. 

 Fine specimens of this beautiful form are 

 grown at Trescoe Abbey, Menabilly, and 

 similarly sheltered spots. 



[To the Editor of Flora and Sylva.] Sir, 

 — Adverting to the article by Mr. S. W. Fitz- 

 herbert in your December number on Rosa 

 laevigata, and his statement that he has never 

 known R. gigantea to flower, I would refer you 

 to the Rose Catalogue of Messrs. Paul and 

 Son, issued last autumn, in which they state, 

 in reference to the latter rose : " Has at last 

 been flowered at Cannes by Lord Brougham, 

 who describes it to us as golden yellow in the 

 bud, open flowers lemon-white." I do not 

 know whether this is of any interest to you. — 

 Yours faithfully, G. L. Leman. 



As for our love of gardens, it is the last refuge 

 of art in the minds and souls of many English- 

 men : if we did not care for gardens, I hardly 

 know what in the way of beauty we should 

 care for. — Sir Arthur Helps. 



ROCK ROSES {Cistus). 



Anyone who has become familiar with the 

 Cistus, or Rock Rose, in its native haunts is 

 glad to meet it again, for even under duller 

 skies it seems to possess a brightness all its 

 own — a reflection, as it were, of clear strong 

 sunlight drunk in by endless successions of its 

 fellows through countless ages of time — a sug- 

 gestion of humming insects, of soft winds and 

 genial warmth, and, above all, of wild, unre- 

 strained Nature. These are, indeed, shrubs of 

 the wild-garden, some of Nature's wayward 

 children, which resent the fussing and trim- 

 ming of the gardener, and love to take their 

 own way in places despised of other plants. 

 In its own haunts no soil is too poor for the 

 Cistus, the drier and more sunburnt the better, 

 provided that it is fairly porous. Spread over 

 a wide range of sunny hillsides all over the 

 Mediterranean region, and producing myriads 

 of its short-lived flowers and stout seed-vessels, 

 the only wonder is not to find it yet more 

 freely. In that magnificent seed-producing 



CISTUS FLORENTINUS. 



