THE PERICP BOTpiST. 
Vol. VIII. BINGHAMTON, N. Y., APRIL, 1905. No. 4. 
THE PINK AZALEA. 
THE earliest spring flowers, heralding a milder season, 
attract more attention than would probably be their 
due were they to bloom later in the year when flowers are 
more abundant. When flowers are everywhere it requires 
an imposing blossom to make a special impression and 
yet throughout the summer certain flowers, either by 
their numbers, unusual size or brilliancy, stand out from 
among their fellows so decidedh^ as to mark a certain 
season for their own. We may speak thus of the dande- 
lion season, the daisy season, the bluet season and so on 
for many more. None are more distinctly marked, how- 
ever, than the one to which the subject of this sketch may 
well give a name — the pink azalea season. Until the plant 
begins to unfold its fragrant blossoms it is not at all a 
conspicuous, but in its favorite haunts the blooming 
season is something to be remembered. Those who have 
seen a few straggling specimens in bloom can form no 
adequate idea of its beauty when flowering in immense 
numbers along some chosen hillside. Although often 
called swamp azalea it does not appear especially restrict- 
ed to swamps; in fact the dryish hillsides seem much more 
to its liking. But wherever it grows, its strong fragrance 
soon makes its presence known. At the height of its 
season the whole country-side is flooded with it and it is 
one of the few flowers that calls the non -botanical public 
to the woods. Many observers have testified to the fact 
that there is great variation in the intensity of the 
fragrance, and some have supposed that this is due to a 
confusion of two distinct species. These latter maintain 
that the common azalea {Azalea nudiflora) is but faintly 
fragrant and that another species, to which the name of 
