330 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. XIX. 



and will make it a general favourite when it becomes 

 better known. The Chinese call this the Wang-shan- 

 kwei, and it is said to have been discovered on Wang- 

 shan, a celebrated mountain in the district of Hwuy-chow. 



After looking over the plants upon the stage, I 

 passed on to the main portion of the nursery, which is 

 situated behind the house. Here a beautiful sight was 

 presented to the eye. Two large masses of Azaleas, 

 arranged on each side of a small walk, were covered 

 with flowers of the most dazzling brightness and 

 beauty. Nor were they common kinds. Generally 

 they belonged to the same section as A. indica (the 

 varieties of A. variegata do not flower so early), but 

 the species so common in Canton and the south were 

 comparatively rare here. A most beautiful kind, 

 having the habit of A. indica and half deciduous, had 

 its flowers striped with pale blue or lilac lines, and 

 sometimes blotches of the same colour upon a white 

 ground. Not unfrequently it " sports " like the double- 

 blossomed peach already described, and then, in addi- 

 tion to its carnation-striped flowers, has some self- 

 coloured purple ones on the same plant. This species 

 has been named Azalea vittata. 



Another species allied to this, which I have named 

 A. Bealei, had red stripes, and a third was mottled and 

 striped in its flowers, the colours being still the same. 

 These are all quite new, and they flower early in the 

 season, fully three weeks or a month before that section 

 to which A. variegata belongs. A red variety, which 

 flowers later, is particularly worthy of notice. Its 

 habit is different from any known species ; its leaves are 



