48 Mr Don on llhodademlron^ Ledum and Leiophyllum. 
is commonly five, aiid in Rhododendron ten. These numbers, 
however, are so variable, that they cannot be regarded as of 
sufficient importance to constitute a generic character. Thus, 
for example, indlca and lapponica (Rhododendron lap- 
ponicum^ Wahlenb. FI. Lapp.) are often observed to have eight 
and ten stamens. In the Lambertian Herbarium, is a specimen of 
a shrub (R. hispidum mihi) from Japan, very near akin to Azce. 
lea indica, the flowers of which have uniformly ten stamens. The 
striking affinity which exists among these plants may in some 
measure account for the facility with which they are known to 
unite in the production of hybrid varieties. The genus Azalea 
must npw, therefore, be limited to A. procumbenSy a species 
which affords abundant marks of distinction, and is the only one 
indigenous to Britain. This little shrub agrees in many points 
with Leiophyllum huxrfoVium ( Ledum huxifolium^ Hort. Kew.,) 
but the latter differs from it, in having a 5-petaled corolla and 
projecting stamens ; and from Ledum it is distinguished by its 
calyx ; by the bursting of its antherae ; by the dehiscence of its 
capsule ; by the structure of the columella ; and, lastly, by the 
form of its seeds. In order to point out the characters of these 
genera, as now constituted, I shall subjoin descriptions of all of 
them. 
AZALEA.^ — Azalea species Linn, 
Calyx prof unde 5-par titus, persistens. Corolla brevis, cam- 
panulata, 5-fida. Stamina 5, hypogyna, coralla breviora : fila^ 
menta plana, glabra : antherae subrotundse, laterales, nudae, bi- 
loculares, interne Ipngitudinaliter rumpentes. Pistillum 1, sta^ 
minibus brevior : germen subrotundum i stylus rectus, simplex : 
stigma capitatum. Capsula parva, subrotundo-ovata, stylo per- 
sistente rostrata, 5-locularis, 5-valvis, apice septicido-dehiscens : 
valvis ovatis : marginibus introflexis, remotis, rectis. Columella 
subovata, teretiuscula, rugosa, basi gibbosa. Semina co , mi- 
nuta, Isevia, upter^* Rruticulus depressus, ramosissimus, pro- 
cumbens, serapervireris, foliosus, rigidps. FoUq, opposita, parva, 
elliptica, integerrima, coriacea, glabra, nitida, margine revoluta. 
Flores parvi, rosei, pedicellati, in umbellulis numerosis, termina- 
libus dispositi. 
Sp. 1. procumbens. 
Azalea procumbens, Linn, 
