EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 587 
from two to six inches. The colors range from pure white to 
pink, yellow, lilac, crimson, and deep purple, and their variegations. 
Period of bloom about one month, varying in time on different 
varieties from May to August, but mainly in June and July. 
The following are the printipal species from which the varieties 
now in cultivation have sprung; but the various products of hybrid¬ 
ization have so far surpassed the originals in beauty and hardiness, 
that the latter are of little importance practically, except to the 
growers of new seedling varieties, and to show what the gardener’s 
skill can effect: 
The Pontic Rhododendron, R. ponticum, is a native of Ar¬ 
menia, in Asia Minor, and in England becomes a spreading bush 
from six to fifteen feet high, and of greater breadth. It does best 
in shade, and cool, moist or tenacious soils; and is not hardy in 
our northern States. Flowers in June, of a purplish color. 
The American Rhododendron, R. maximum , is almost a 
tree, but of a straggling, open growth. It is oftenest found wild in 
shady, moist, rocky ground, contiguous to the humid atmosphere of 
running streams, where it grows ten to fifteen feet high, and blos¬ 
soms from June to August. Flowers a pale red color. Found 
from Canada to the Gulf States. There is a wild native variety 
with larger leaves, which attains greater size, and bears purple 
flowers in May and June, known as the R. m. purpureum. 
The Catawba Rhododendron. R. catawbaensis .—This is a 
native of the mountains from Virginia to Georgia, and forms a 
lower and more compact bush than the preceding; and, though not 
indigenous so far north, is yet the parent of varieties that are the 
hardiest and most beautiful in the northern States. Its leaves are 
the handsomest, and hybrids from it bear full exposure to the sun 
in common soils better than most others. 
The Dotted-leaved Rhododendron, R. punctatum, is an¬ 
other wild variety of the south, with pink flowers. 
The Golden-flowered Rhododendron, R. crysanthemum, is 
a very dwarf variety, with yellow flowers; found in Siberia and 
Kamtschatka. 
The Caucasian Rhododendron, R. caucasicum , is a dwarf 
sort, which grows only a foot in height on its native mountains. 
