CHAPTER IV 
HYBRIDS 
Beautiful as are many of the species of Rhododendron, 
and adapted as they are to the conditions of climate and 
soil of most parts of the British Islands, at the same time 
they are not all first-class garden plants. Either they get 
spoilt by frost, or they fail to set their flowers, or their colours 
are not pleasing, or their habit is imperfect. It is therefore 
fortunate that they will hybridise freely, and that breeders 
early took advantage of this. The popular garden sorts 
are, for the most part, seedlings which have descended from 
hybrids raised nearly a century ago. Comparatively few of 
the species have yet been turned to account in this way, 
though Rhododendron fanciers are active enough now in 
breeding from such species as are likely to yield new types. 
The earliest hybrid Rhododendron whose history is 
recorded was produced about the year 1820 by the nursery- 
man, Mr. Thompson, Mile End Road, through the acci- 
dental crossing of R, ponticum with R. niidiflorum (Azalea 
nudiflora). This hybrid is in cultivation to-day under the 
name of R. odoratum or R. azaleoides, and is remarkable for 
its agreeable fragrance and good behaviour under ordinary 
conditions. Other crosses between true Rhododendrons 
and Ghent Azaleas have since been raised, and the name 
Azaleodendron was proposed for them by the late Dr. 
Masters. The pretty. Honeysuckle-like R. Williamsii is one 
of these. The first really important hybrid was R. alta- 
