RFvODODENDRON (Azalea) VASEYl. 
[See ait on following page. Prices on pago 5.] 
The following description of this new and bpautiful shrub was furnished by 
€apt. John Dounell Smith, of Baltimore: 
Rhododendron (Azalea) Vaseyi, Gray, Pro.:. Am. Acad., vol. xv, p. 48; Botan- 
ical Gazette, vol. vlii, p. 282. 
Shrub 8-15ft. high; branches glabrous; bud-scules.imbricated; leave,s mem- 
branaceous, sparingly pubescent-hairy or smooth, from obovats-oblong to oblong- 
lanceolate, acute or acuminate at both en<Ls, .'5-6 in. long; pedicels slender, glandu- 
lar, recurved after flowering; caly.x very short, truncate; corolla ro.eate, glabrous 
within and without, rotate, campanulate, irregularly and bilabiately o-parted or 
nearly so «'ith the lateral sinuses deeper, and those of the obovate divisions more 
connected than those of the other two, upper lobes more or le:a spotted inside to- 
ward base: .tanions 7. occasionally only 5, three-fourths of them largei and with 
stouter tilamenta; style with the stamens a little ..xceeding the corolla; ovary beset 
with stipulate viscid glands. Blossoming precocious rather than ccetaneous with 
'^cXted first by Mr. George Vasey. June, 1878. seven miles south-west of 
Webster. Jackson Countv, N. C; subsequently :.by Mr. S. T. Kelsey and Capt. 
John Donncal Smith, along spring drains and ravines, Chimney Top Gap, between 
Cashiers and Fairfield Valleys, Jackson (Vnin(y S. C. ^ ,. ^ 
"This is a mosi interesting r.pe. ie^." remarks Dr. Gray, "as addmg to our 
Flora a representative of that gi-ou;. of East Asiatic species of of the true Azalea 
sub-genus, .^ ;th campamilate or rotate corapa.iulate corollas, and very deciduous 
pcrnlge to (he separate dower beds. It vontributes another to the now very nu- 
merous cases of remnUable relation.si.i.i betT^oen the Chuio-Japanese and the AI- 
le-hanian floras." V .■ fl!.-o quote what a scientitic gentleman writes from High- 
lands for the Philadel! M.i /V.-.v.s of Oct .xlSa-,: '•! recently :n.1e through the 
mountains of Western North Carolina.. * » * So many of the linest trees and 
shrubs in cultivation attiiin their best development in this region that it may be 
worth wliile to note the appearance of some of them at lionie. Except, perhaps, 
on the hi- h sloi-es of the Himalayas, ov the mountainB of Java, the various species 
of the rhododendron nowhere arc lo he found rn such profusion ntiul liuxuriance. 
* * * » « "The I:Ues! .1 1 I tion to .Vnierican Hower'.ng siirubs is ii/tof/o- 
dendron Fospz/i', which rem.- hied uiuletectH.l until f<.iir ,.r live years ago, when 
Mr. Va.sev found it in Jackson County, nea • Webster, I-T. O. It was also discover- 
ed aboutthesame time in Cashiers Valley. The discovery was particularly interest- 
ing as it belongs to a section of the genus almost exclu.sively Asiatic, entirely unrep- 
resented in our Atlantic flora, and with its nearest American relative confined to 
the higliest peaks of the Cascade and Northern Rocky Mountains. It is a tall 
shrub°-twelve to fifteen fyet high--with bright, purple, pink, scentless flowers, 
and, unlike our other rhododendrons, with' deciduous leaves. It is easily trans- 
planted, adapts itself readily to cv.ltivation, and promises to become an important 
addition to our garden flora." 
During the present season this interesting plant has been found again by Mr. 
S. T. Kelsey, growing on Grandfather mountain. Mitchell Co., this state. We 
would add, that, as an ornamental plant, it is hardly excelled by any in cultiva- 
tion of this character, and produces a fine effect when used either as a single lawn 
specimen or planted in clumps. Every one interested in plants or flowers shoulij 
plant at least one specimen o^ thifs beautiful new rhododendron. 
