RHODODENDRON JAVANICUM. 
Class. 
DECANDRIA. 
(Java Rose-bay.) 
Natural Order. 
ERICACEAE. 
(Heath-worts, Veg. King.) 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Calyx five-parted, or five- 
toothed. Corolla somewhat funnel-shaped, or cam 
panulate ; rarely rotate or five-parted ; limb five-cleft, 
somewhat bilabiate ; upper lip broadest, usually 
spotted. Stamens ten, usually exserted, decimate, 
sometimes from five to nine are abortive. Anthers 
opening by two terminal pores. Capsule five-celled, 
five-valved; rarely ten-celled and ten-valved, with a 
septicidal dehiscence at the apex. Placentas simple, 
angular. Seeds compressed, winged. 
Specific Character. — Plant a shrub, growing about 
six feet high, parasitical. Branches spreading, nume- 
rous. Leaves scattered, somewhat coriaceous, oblong- 
lanceolate, acute, tapering at both ends, entire, smooth, 
deep glossy green above, beneath paler, and clothed 
with fine brown peltate scales. Flowers very showy, 
disposed in fascicles ; each cluster consisting of ten or 
twelve, or even more, terminal. Calyx very small, 
five-lobed. Corolla large, very showy, deep rich orange- 
coloured, somewhat campanulate ; limb nearly equal ; 
segments obovate, rounded, obtuse. Stamens ten, five 
lying against the corolla on one side, and five on the 
other. Anthers purple. Ovary oblong, five-lobed. 
Authorities and Synonymes. — Rhododendron, Lin. 
Gen., No. 548 ; Chama?rhododendros, Toura. Inst., t. 373 ; 
Vireya, Blume, Bijalr. p. 854 ; Rhododendron Javanicum, 
Bennett, Plan. Jav. Rarior., p. 85, t. 29, De Candolle, 
Prod., v. 7, p. 721, Sir W. Hooker, in Botanical Maga- 
zine, t. 4336 ; Vireya Javanica, Blume, Bijdr., p. 854, 
Don's System, v. 3, p. 848. 
This is certainly one of the most splendid plants of recent introduction, and as 
it blooms most freely throughout the greater part of the year, a finer ornament to 
our conservatories can scarcely be conceived. 
It is a native of Java, where it occupies various localities in the dense forests, 
four thousand feet or more above the level of the sea. It was originally discovered 
by Blume at the foot of Mount Salak, where it was called by the natives Gaga 
Mirha : it was named by that botanist Vireya Javanica, in honour of M. Virey, a 
French physician ; but the differences in the construction of the flowers of this 
genus and Rhododendron, appear too slender to admit of its being satisfactorily 
established as a new genus ; these differences merely consisting of the stamens 
being in no way adnate to the corolla, and the calyxes being unusually small. We 
have therefore considered it a species of Rhododendron. 
There are several varieties of this fine species known in Java, differing chiefly in 
the pale yellow or deep orange of the flowers ; one of a smaller growth and of a pale 
citron colour was noticed and described by Blume, and another of a fine orange- 
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