HIMALAYAN RHODODENDRONS AND THEIR HYBRIDS. 29 



these 43 are considered distinct species, and of these again 37 come from 

 the Himalayan range of mountains, and Mr. Cook names 42 Rhododendrons, 

 of which 13, I think, come from the Himalayas. 



Colour is, of course, highly attractive in Rhododendrons. 



In arboreum we have fine reds, pinks, and whites. In no species is 

 there finer red than in barbatum, fulgens, and Thomsoni, purple in 

 niveum, yellow in campylocarpum. Hooker's figure of the yellow Wightii 

 is attractive, but I fear delusive, and I fear it may prove too much like 

 lanatum, which I have only seen as a poor buff, and not fit to hold a 

 candle to campylocarpum. Boothii I do not know. 



For whites the influence of Griffithianum or Aucklandii is much sought 

 in hybrids ; from it we obtain size and firmness of texture with a fine 

 open corolla, and in the EdgeworthU hybrids a sweet scent. Maddeni is 

 very sweetly scented, but though I have bloomed it out of doors it is not 

 to be reckoned as a hardy Rhododendron ; it is a late-flowering Hima- 

 layan, and as a greenhouse species a very desirable one. 



No Himalayan Rhododendron varies more than arboreum, and perhaps 

 it is no wonder that it should be so, for the species and its varieties are 

 found commonly throughout the hill countries of India — in Ceylon, the 

 Nilgherries, Simla, and in the Himalayas ; and as the elevation above the 

 sea-level at which it is found is a very large factor in the hardiness of 

 the plants imported, it follows that we should only trust out of doors 

 those which come to us from the upper Himalayas. 



The varieties are many, red, white, and pink, and some of these 

 varieties are so much finer than others as almost to suggest a different 

 type. 



It is with diffidence I launch this paper before so large and critical an 

 audience. The subject is one worth discussion, for the hybrid race we have 

 hitherto raised seems to be capable of a wide further improvement in the 

 prolongation of the flowering season, in the size and in the colouring of 

 the bloom. 



Hardy yellows are undoubtedly to be had from campylocarpum, and I 

 cannot think the fine red forms of arboreum have yet been sufficiently 

 used. 



Griffiihianum or Aucklandii is undoubtedly a useful parent, and we are 

 destined in the near future to see a very noble family of children from so 

 august a mother, and also in the barbatum Thomsoni cross I have a 

 useful strain which seems to me to unite the good qualities of both 

 parents in their grand colour and in their early bloom. 



A large part of the hardy hybrids were raised more than fifty years 

 ago, by crossing the species of Himalayan arboreum, Asiatic ponticum, 

 American cataicbien.se, and Caucasian caucasicum. 



The season begins with the classes called Nobleanum and Jacksoni, 

 which open their trusses in the late autumn, and continue for some 

 months till cut away by severe frost. 



Altaclerense, raised at Highclere and figured in 1835, is one of the 

 early and hardy kinds. It is said to be derived from the seed of cataic- 

 biense fertilised by the pollen of crimson arboreum (Burbidge, p. 121), 

 or according to Mr. Cook it is the result of cataivbiensc and ponticum 

 (Cook, p. 425). Then we have Van Houtte's « Prince Camille de Rohan,' 



