240 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



HYBEID RHODODENDRONS. 

 By the Rev. Prof. G. Henslow, M.A., F.L.S., &c. 



[Read May 12, 1891.] 



Introduction. 



In giving some account of the hybrids and crosses raised by 

 Messrs. Veitch & Sons between species of East Indian Rhodo- 

 dendrons, the following observations refer almost entirely to the 

 effects produced in the forms and colours of the flowers, as well 

 as in the shapes of the leaf-blades. Other observers and experi- 

 menters on hybrids have paid great attention to the question 

 of the relative degrees of sterility and fertility amongst true 

 hybrids and crosses of subsequent generations. As the Rhodo- 

 dendrons in question are raised for commercial purposes, the 

 methods of multiplication and propagation adopted, besides having 

 the advantage of keeping the different sorts true, are entirely by 

 cutting and grafting, as affording a more rapid means of increas- 

 ing the stock. Hence the sole object of crossing is to raise new 

 varieties in which form and colour are the only points attended 

 to, apart from a more compact habit of growth than that which 

 some of them are liable to affect. Such being the case, no 

 statistics of importance are retained upon which generalisations 

 can be framed in reference to relative degrees of sterility or fer- 

 tility. Such observations as Mr. Veitch has made I have sup- 

 plied. Still, from the point of view above stated, the results 

 will not, I think, be found devoid of interest. 



General Effects of Crossings on Flowers and Foliage. — It has 

 been often asserted that a hybrid resembles the male parent in 

 the flowers, and the female parent in foliage. One chief result, 

 however, observed in studying the comparative effects of the male 

 and female parents in the present case is to modify considerably, 

 if not to render nugatory, this supposed rule ; for it is by no means 

 absolute. It would be more correct to say that the offspring 

 may resemble either parent in either way and in various 

 degrees, according to some unexplainable prepotencies in them re- 

 spectively. Moreover, characters observable in the grandparents 

 or higher ancestry may reappear, having been more or less in 

 abeyance in the parents ; or, again, a trace of colour of an 



