88 



PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



attracted general notice. So unlike, indeed, are they to the ordinary form of Rhododendron blossoms, that the 

 ' Gardeners' Chronicle,' in recounting the prizes of the day, seemed to imply that this was probably no Rhododendron 

 at all ! " It is a native of Mount Ophir, Malacca ; elev. 5000 feet, and seems a ready flowerer. Branches bare of 

 leaves below, and knotted where they had been inserted. Leaves crowded towards the upper part of the branches, 

 lowermost ones subverticillate, on short petioles, obovate-oblong, rather acute, glabrous, nearly coriaceous. Umbel 

 terminal, many-flowered. Peduncles 1 -flowered, short, with small reddish bracteas at the base, and, as well as the very 

 small, shallow, obscurely 5-lobed calyx, lepidote. Corolla salver-shaped, white, slightly tinged with rose below the limb ; 

 the tube two inches long, straight, scarcely gibbous at the base : the limb spreading, of five obovate wavy lobes, almost 

 exactly equal. Stamens 10. Filaments filiform, downy, as long as the tube. Anthers red (forming a red eye, as seen 

 at the mouth of the white corolla). Ovary oblong-cylindrical, lepidote, 5-celled, glandular at the base. Style rather 

 shorter than the stamens, filiform, downy. Stigma dilated, obtuse, green. — Botanical Magazine, t. 4524. 



We do not think that the " Gardeners' Chronicle" expressed an opinion adverse to this plant being a Rhododendron. 

 A nd we can answer for this, that any observation which was made had no relation to the mere form of the corolla. There 

 are points connected with the alpine Indian Rhododendrons which have attracted no attention, and yet deserve serious 

 examination. What, for instance, is the meaning of the continuation of the style and ovary, instead of the usual 

 articulation ? And what is the equivalent among true Rhododendrons of the epidermoidal glands, capped with scurfs, 

 which lie everywhere among the stomates of this and some other Rhododendrons ? These matters are of higher 

 interest than the comparative length of the tube of a corolla. 



