HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. 137 



mosum, from the province of Yunnan in Western China, growing 

 in its habitat at 8,000 to 10,000 feet, and near our Indian 

 glaucum. 



Eastward of China there is a rapid decrease to fourteen in 

 Japan, two or three in Western North America, and about six in 

 Eastern North America, including B. lapponicum with which 

 this summary began. 



From the Himalaya a stream from the genus flows south 

 along the Malayan peninsula to the Malay Islands, New Guinea, 

 and S. Australia. Most of its members belong to a section witli 

 thin valve capsules and long-tailed seeds, and of these one alone 

 is Himalayan, B. vaccinioides of Sikkim. 



Now for some of the species which I find hardy. 



I begin with the earliest and hardiest, beginning in February. 

 B. barbatum is so called from the peculiarity of the hairy petiole 

 of the leaf. The truss is closely appressed, but of a glowing 

 crimson colour, and, with its smooth bluish bark, the effect in a 

 bright early spring sunshine is very effective. Twelve degrees of 

 frost on the morning of February 27 last spoilt some of my 

 bloom, but a week later other trusses had developed, and eight 

 degrees of frost on March 18 left no perceptible effect on the 

 barbatum, which was then in full bloom. 



Following barbatum comes an especial favourite of mine — ■ 

 B. Thomsoni. Instead of a closely appressed truss of many 

 pips, here we ha\e a lax campanulate truss, by which I mean, in- 

 stead of a too crowded truss we here have six to ten corollas or 

 individual blossoms in a loose cluster — each blossom an elegant 

 bell of the deepest crimson, with five large drops of honey in the 

 base of the corolla, which give an appearance through its waxy 

 substance of a black base to the bell, which is peculiarly effective 

 as it hangs between the eye and the light. 



Thomsoni is a general favourite from its very neat and 

 brilliant bloom. An illustration of its adaptability to our frosty 

 spring weather will be interesting. A plant in my garden was 

 bursting into bloom late in March — the trusses were already 

 showing colour — when a sharp frost set in, and lasted upwards of 

 three weeks. During the whole of this time the Khododendron 

 remained quiescent and did not move, but the very day after the 

 frost broke up the blooms began to resume their expansion, and 

 developed as though nothing had occurred to retard their growth, 



