376 
NEW TLANTS IN THE 
tables or benches fitted with this contrivance, 
and to use one or the other of these kinds of 
pots for all their large plants. For though 
the advantages to cultivators of employing 
these agents are considerable, yet from the 
force of habit in overcoming difficulties of 
this nature, they are less important to them, 
than to those amateurs who are not so well 
skilled in practical floriculture. 
NEW TLANTS IN THE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY'S GARDEN. 
From the Journal of the Horticultural 
Society, we take the following particulars re- 
specting some of the new subjects which have 
been introduced to their gardens, at Chis- 
wick : — 
Azalea ovata, (ovate-leaved Azalea.) — 
Among the early despatches from Mr. For- 
tune, was received a drawing of this beautiful 
shrub, which, according to the Chinese artist, 
lias most delicate pink flowers, of the size and 
form of the Davurian Rhododendron, growing 
in clusters at the end of the branches. The 
original plants did not survive the voyage ; 
but a packet of seed has furnished an abun- 
dance of young plants, whieh have been dis- 
tributed extensively to the Fellows of the 
Society under the name of " Azalea 274." 
The dried specimens received from Mr. For- 
tune enable the species to be positively deter- 
mined. It is entirely diiferent in foliage 
from all the other Chinese Azaleas ; for in- 
stead of the pale-green colour and abundant 
hairs which characterise them all, this has 
perfectly hairless leaves, unless in the seedling 
state, and they are of a very dark green. 
Their form, too, is quite distinct ; for instead 
of tapering gradually to the stalk they are 
abruptly ovate, or even in some eases almost 
heart-shaped. The plant has been too recently 
acquired for any knowledge of its true habits 
to have been gained : but seedlings in the 
open air have borne the frost of last autumn, 
and it was considerable on two occasions, 
without having suffered in the least ; and if, 
as seems probable, the plant should not be 
inclined to push early, it will not only be a 
hardy evergreen, but one of the finest in the 
country. There are two varieties, the one 
with white, the other with pink, or lilac 
flowers, both spotted and very beautiful. — 
Chusan, Mr. Fortune. 
Azalea obtusa, (blunt-leaved Azalea.) — 
This charming shrub may be regarded as the 
gayest of all the red Chinese Azaleas in cul- 
tivation. It is a little bush, with very blunt 
leaves, both smaller and narrower in propor- 
tion than we find upon the species already in 
our gardens, and also with smallerflowers,of the 
most glowing red. The latter have uniformly 
five stamens only, the characteristic mark of 
the genus Azalea, and thus seem to show that 
the additional number hitherto remarked in 
the Chinese species is a mere result of cultiva- 
tion. The segments of the corolla are nearly 
oval and sharp-pointed ; the upper one is not 
much smaller than the others, and is faintly 
blotched with purple. Its high northern lati- 
tude would seem to indicate that this plant 
may be hardy, but it has hitherto been treated 
as a green-house shrub. It will doubtless prove 
to be very useful, in consequence of its being 
a free flowerer, and of a dwarf habit. — Shang- 
hae, Mr. Fortune, July, 1844. 
Azalea squamata, (scaly-sheathed Azalea.) — 
With the habit common to all the Chinese 
Azaleas this presents the following peculiari- 
ties : — In its natural state it blooms without 
leaves, producing at the end of every little 
shoot one or two large flowers of a clear rose- 
colour, distinctly spotted with crimson on one 
side, and guarded at the base by a large 
sheath of bright brown scales (whence its 
name). Its calyx, unlike that of the neigh- 
bouring species, is reduced to a mere five- 
toothed rim. Its ovary, immediately after 
the fall of the corolla, projects in the form of 
an oblong body quite covered with coarse 
brown hairs. The leaves when young are 
somewhat like those of A. indica, and have 
nothing distinctive in their shape or surface ; 
but when old they are oval, sharp at each 
end, perfectly hairless, and as even on the 
upper surface as those of Rhododendron 
punctatum. The plant has been long known 
from dried specimens and drawings sent from 
China by Mr. Reeves, the latter of which are 
preserved in the library of the Society : but 
it has never before been introduced alive. At 
present its flowers have only been produced 
by plants out of health, and therefore they 
have given no just idea of the beauty of the 
plant, which is one of the finest in cultivation. 
This species will scarcely prove hardy. In 
a case, containing several plants, Mr. For- 
tune sent home a portion of the soil, brown 
loam, in which it was found growing wild, 
and for the purpose of trying its effects one 
plant was potted in it ; but it has by no 
means the healthy appearance of those potted 
in rough sandy peat. It strikes freely from 
cuttings of young wood under ordinary treat- 
ment. The beautiful spotted flowers and neat 
foliage, together with a dwarf habit, will ren- 
der this a plant of considerable importance. — 
Mountains of Hong Kong, Mi: Fortune. 
Berberis Fortuni, (Mr. Fortune's Berberry.) 
— At present we know of but one pinnated 
Berberry from the north-east of Asia, a plant 
called by Thunberg an Ilex, and reduced to 
the false genus Mahonia by De Candolle. 
Mr. Fortune has added another, which seems 
