RHODODENDRON ARBOREUM PAXTONI. 
(Mr. Paxton’s Tree Rhododendron.) 
Class. Order. 
DECANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
ERICACEAE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx five-parted. Corolla 
somewhat funnel-shaped or campanulate, rarely rotate 
ir five-parted, limb five-cleft, somewhat bilabiate ; 
upper lip broadest and usually spotted. Stamens five 
a ten, usually exserted, declinate ; anthers opening by 
;wo terminal pores. Capsule five-celled and five- 
ealved; rarely ten-celled and ten.valved, as in R- 
v'boreum, with a septicidal dehiscence at the apex. 
Placentas simple, angular. Seeds compressed, scobi- 
brm, winged.— Don's Syst ., see Mag. Bot., 1—101. 
Specific Character. — Plant an evergreen tree. 
Leaves oval-lanceolate, stalked, acute, 4 — 6 inches 
ong, 1^ inch broad ; above smooth and dull, with 
mnken veins, beneath silvery, with smooth, prominent, 
uaked veins. Flowers terminal, clustered in a short 
•aceme, proceeding from a bud covered outside with 
ihlong, imbricated brown scales, which gradually 
lecome more acute, membranous, and silky as they 
ipproach the flowers, among which they are finally 
nixed, as in Enkianthus, in the form of bracts, which 
ire placed singly under each flower, and are spatulate- 
lanceolate, bowed, cymbiform, white, silky, the length 
of flowers, and falling off with the flowers. Pedicels 
short, wrinkled, scurfy. Calyx short, flattish, five- 
toothed, pubescent. Corolla dark scarlet, fleshy, cam- 
panulate at the base, with five prominences, five-lobed, 
If inch long, with rounded, wavy, emarginate lobes, of 
which the lowest are largest ; the throat covered with 
dark purple spots. Stamens ten, hypogynous, the 
length of corolla ; filaments white, fleshy, filiform. 
Anthers brown, oblong, apparently inverted, and there- 
fore opening by two pores at the end, not calcarate. 
Pollen pale yellow, globose, clustered in threes.— Lind- 
ley, in Bot. Reg., 890. 
Paxtoni. — Leaves three to four inches long, tomen- 
tose, somewhat obtuse, dull green above, ferruginous 
beneath. Flowers not seated immediately above a 
whorl of large leaves, as those of R. arboreum. Corolla 
crimson, very fleshy, campanulate, three inches long, 
and the same in diameter when expanded ; and the 
throat very indistinctly spotted. 
This very magnificent variety of R. arboreum is a native of the East Indies, 
ivhere it was discovered in 1837, by Mr. John Gibson, His Grace the Duke of 
Devonshire’s collector. It grew in elevated situations on the Khoseea Hills, forming 
i spreading tree of considerable beauty. It produced its splendid flowers for the 
irst time in the greenhouse at Chatsworth, in the spring of 1844, being then a very 
small plant. This spring it has again flowered, when our drawing was made. 
It succeeds best when potted in turfy heath-mould, with good drainage, and is 
Basily propagated by layers or grafting on the stock of R. ponticum. It requires the 
shelter of the greenhouse, and in every other respect exactly the treatment of 
R. arboreum. 
The generic name is derived from rhodon a rose, and dendron a tree ; arboreum 
lescribes its tree-like habit of growth, and the name of this variety is given by 
Mr. Gibson, the discoverer. 
