THE LARGE-FLOWERED ROSE ACACIA. 



HE COMMON rose or 

 moss acacia, Robinia 

 Jdspida, affords an in- 

 stance of a native 

 shrub of the southern 

 states proving quite 

 suitable for cultivation 

 throughout the north 

 as well. It has long 

 been in cultivation in 

 all the older sections 

 of our country ; and there is small wonder that it 

 is a favorite, on account of its numerous, large, 

 deep rose-colored and showy flowers in racemes. 

 The bloom appears in June and sometimes at in- 

 tervals later. 

 The habit of 

 the plant is de- 

 cidedly irregu- 

 lar and spread- 

 ing. 



Those of our 

 readers who have 

 numbered the 

 above shrub 

 among their fa- 

 vorite garden 

 subjects, will be 

 pleased, if they 

 have not yet met 

 it, to make the 

 acquaintance of 

 a variety of the 

 same which i n 

 many respects is 

 its superior. We 

 refer to the large- 

 flowered rose 

 acacia (R.hispida 

 var. grandijiora') 

 of \Ahich an en- 

 graving from 

 life, the drawing 

 of which was 

 made on the wri- 

 ter's grounds, is 

 shown here. The 

 superiority of 



this variety lies in its having much 

 foliage than the parent, and it is a finer plant in every 

 way. The objection raised by some to the species, 



that it is too straggling in habit for beauty, does not 

 apply with much force to this variety. With a little 

 attention to pruning, it may be had either in the form 

 of a well-rounded shrub, or by growing it to the trunk 

 style, that of a handsome moderate sized tree. In 

 either case it will in its season of bloom delight every 

 beholder, with its very profuse crop of elegant, bold ra- 

 cemes of drooping rose-colored flowers. Altogether there 

 is in this small tree, between the magnificent bloom, 

 the strong leathery foliage of deep green color, and 

 the habit, a little off from the regular, a degree of 

 picturesqueness that cannot well be spared from any 

 considerable collection of shrubs and trees. We do not 

 recall a single hardy subject that better deserves to be 

 called a superb bloomer, than this. The flowers, like 

 those of the parent, possess little or no fragrance ; but 



Spray of the Large-Flowered Rose Acacia. 

 arger flowers and 



this, so far from being a fault, may be esteemed a point 

 in its favor by those who consider offensive the e.Kcessive 

 (ragrance of its near relative, the common yellow locust. 



