HIMALAYAN SPECIES 
51 
The question of the hardiness of the Himalayan species is 
a somewhat difficult one. In Cornwall and other favoured 
parts of the Kingdom they are all quite happy in the open 
air, but in those parts where frost of from 12 to 20 
degrees sometimes occurs, only a few of them can be grown 
permanently outside. The hardiest are the least interesting, 
namely, R. glaucum, R. lepidotunty R. nivale, and R, antho- 
pogon, all low-growing bushes with comparatively small 
flowers. Next in hardiness come R. niveum, R. campami- 
latmn, R. fulgens^ R, campylocarpum^ R. Thomsonii, R. 
barhatum, and R, cinnaharinum (Roylei). These all grow 
well and flower freely outside at Kew, and are therefore 
suitable for those parts of the Kingdom where the tem- 
perature approximates to that of the London district. R. 
arhoreum lives outside at Kew but rarely flowers, whilst 
the large-growing, big-flowered species, such as R, grande 
(argenteum), R. Hodgsonii, R, Falconeri, R. Griffithianunij R. 
Dalhousice, R. Edgeworthii, R, Nuttallii, and some others, 
require the humid, mild climate of such districts as South- 
West Cornwall. The yellow-flowered R. Wightii, judging 
from the altitude at which it is found in the Himalayas, 
ought to be as hardy as R. campanulatum^ but it does not 
appear to have been tested in England, though there are 
plenty of young plants of it in cultivation now. 
At Valewood, Haslemere, a screen house provided 
shelter for the Himalayan species, but some of these have 
since proved to be quite hardy there. Hardiness as applied 
to plants is an elastic term which is often used in a way that 
misleads. A plant may be able to withstand a certain 
degree of cold, and yet suffer injury in winter from some 
other cause. For example, R, fulgens is quite hardy at Kew. 
There are big bushes of it, at least thirty years old, in 
