CHAPTER VIII 
INDIAN AZALEAS 
Rhododendron indicnm (Azalea indica) was first introduced 
into Holland from China in 1680, but it appears to have 
gone out of cultivation long before it was re-introduced in 
1830, when a Captain Daniels brought plants of it from 
China to England. These were purchased by Mr. Knight, a 
nurseryman in King's Road. There were five varieties, two 
large-flowered, two reds, and one double red. There is 
no record of seedlings being raised in Europe until long 
after this, the many varieties then cultivated in England and 
elsewhere having been obtained from China, where, accord- 
ing to Fortune, they were largely cultivated in gardens, and 
where only he was able to find any that he considered 
worthy of introduction. These Chinese varieties were, 
however, largely propagated in England, France, and Bel- 
gium, mainly by grafting and layering. There were also 
in cultivation at the beginning of the nineteenth century 
several natural varieties of R, indicum, namely, macran- 
thum, Simsii, ledifolium, liliiflorum, and album. According 
to Duval, the introduction in 1843 of a variety known as 
vittatum led to the raising of seedlings. Messrs. Knight 
and Perry, Ivery and Rollison, in England ; L. Eeckhaute, 
]. Veiwaene, Haerens, van Houtte, van Geert, A. Verschaffelt, 
J. de Kneep, and van der Cruyssen in Belgium ; Lesebe, 
Truffaut, H. de May, and Mabire in France ; and Schulz, 
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