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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



formerly have existed between these now widely separated countries. 

 Such speculations are all the more interesting because in our own 

 Falkland Islands we have an outpost on the way to New Zealand, and 

 also because the New Zealand botanists have recently done so much 

 in the exploration of their outlying Southern Islands to help in bridging 

 the gap which lies between the two regions. 



I do not propose to discuss in detail the physical characters of the 

 southern part of South America, about whose products I am speak- 

 ing, but rather to remind you of the debt horticulture owes to this 

 region and of the familiar South American plants which enrich our 

 gardens, whose origin may perchance be unknown to the majority of 

 us. It has often occurred to me that were we to collect together the 

 plants of a particular country into a portion of our gardens set aside 

 for the purpose, we should have a particularly interesting and instruc- 

 tive object-lesson which might form an antidote to some of the fashion- 

 able notions of gardening of the present day. 



The facts which I wish to bring to your notice are not new ; they 

 may be found in various works of reference, but owing to the in- 

 accessibility of some of the literature I have been requested to publish 

 the substance of my lecture. 



For the sake of convenience I have divided my materials into 

 different categories, such as trees and shrubs, herbaceous plants, etc. 



In the first place, then, I wish to call your attention to some of the 

 trees and shrubs of Southern South America, the majority of which 

 are found in the moist temperate region of South Chile. This country, 

 unlike the dry regions to the north, has a mild climate with abundant 

 rainfall not unlike our own, the country is park-like in character and 

 most of the plants will succeed unprotected in the British Isles, or at 

 least in the southern and western counties. Several trees and shrubs 

 have also been introduced from the Andean region of South Chile, 

 Argentina, the island of Chiloe, and the Magellanic region. 



One of the most characteristic and well-known of Chilian trees is 

 the 'Monkey-Puzzle,' Araucaria imbricata, which, grown as a speci- 

 men tree in small gardens, is not always a thing of beauty. It was 

 discovered by Don Francisco Dendariarena of the Spanish Navy in 

 1780, and was introduced to this country in 1796 by Archibald Menzies. 

 Menzies sent some of the plants to Sir Joseph Banks at Kew, where 

 one of them survived until 1892. The tree was very scarce in this 

 country until the collector Lobb sent home a large consignment of 

 seeds in 1844. The only other species (A. hrasiliensis) of this ancient 

 genus in South America is found in the Brazilian mountains, and is 

 not hardy out of doors in this country. These two trees are of particu- 

 lar interest when it is remembered that the other living representatives 

 of the genus are found in Australia, Norfolk Island, and New Cale- 

 donia, and that fossil Araucarias have been discovered all over the 

 globe. Other coniferous trees of value are Libocedrus chileiisis, 

 L. tetragona, Fitzroya 'paiagonica, Saxegothea con^picna, Prumnopitys 

 elegans (fig. 24), and some species of Podocarpiis. The Pines so typical 



