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genera inserted into the corolla 5 in the rest- into the base of 
Ihe calyx. Germen superior; style one; stigma simple, 
often capitate. Capsule superior, of several cells, and seve¬ 
ral valves, both margins of each valve indexed, and con¬ 
nected with the / central axis (or columella), so that each 
forms a cell, containing numerous minute seeds. Stem 
shrubby, more or less lofty. Leaves alternate, or more 
rarely opposite; the young ones, in many instances, revo¬ 
lute at the margin. 
1. Corolla monopetalous,—Kalmia, rhododendrum, and 
azalea; all Linnaean genera; to which is to be added men- 
ziesia, 
2. Corolla imperfectly polypetalous,—Rhodora, ledum, 
befaria (now more correctly written bejaria, by Ventenant 
and others; the Spaniards having pointed out the error, 
which originated in a mistake of Linnaeus, in reading Mutis’s 
manuscript), and itea; all likewise Linnaean genera. 
Jussieu considers the rhododendra as essentially distin¬ 
guished from his ericae, by the want of horns to the anthers, 
and especially by the indexed margins of the valves of the 
capsule. It does not appear to us that these characters are, 
either of them, strictly absolute. Mr. Salisbury has long 
ago observed, that the leaves of the rhododendra have always 
a remarkable glandular tip. 
RHODODENDRUM, [from the Greek name of Diosco- 
rides, compounded of yoSov, a rose, and SevSyov, a tree.] in 
botany, a genus of the class decandria, order monogynia, 
natural order of bicornes, rhododendra, ( Juss.) —Generic 
Character.—Calyx: perianth five-parted, permanent. 
Corolla, one-petalled, funnel-form; border spreading, 
with rounded segments. Stamina: filaments ten, filiform, 
almost the length of the corolla, declined. Anthers oval. 
Pistil: germ five-cornered, retuse. Style filiform, the 
length of the corolla. Stigma obtuse. Pericarp: capsule 
ovate, subangular, five-celled, divisible into five parts. 
Seeds numerous, very small.— ■Essential Character .— 
Calyx five-parted. Corolla somewhat funnel-form. Sta¬ 
mens declined. Capsule five-celled. 
1. Rhododendrum ferrugineum, or rusty-leaved rhodo¬ 
dendron.—Leaves smooth, leprous underneath, corollas fun¬ 
nel-shaped. It is an irregular, distorted ever-green, which 
rises with a shrubby stalk near three feet high, sending out 
many irregular branches, and is covered with a purplish 
bark. The flowers are produced-in round bunches at the 
ends of the branches: the corolla is funnel-shaped with a 
short tube, and is cut into five obtuse segments at the brim, 
spreading a little open, and of a pale rose-colour.—'Native of 
high mountains in Switzerland, Austria, Savoy, Piedmont, 
and Dauphiny, where this and the hirsutum terminate lig¬ 
neous vegetation as we ascend, and furnish the shepherds 
with their only fuel. 
2. Rhododendrum dauricum, or dotted leaved rhododen¬ 
dron.—Leaves smooth, dotted, naked, corollas wheel-shaped. 
Root tuberous-knobbed, thick, deeply bound down by 
by rootlets striking into the ground, or into the fissures of 
rocks. Trunks very short above ground, twisted and 
knobbed. The flowers come out before the leaves at the 
ends of the branchlets of the former year, from a hud that 
continues the branch, composed of ferruginous, subpubes- 
cent, concave scales: they nod a little, and have some 
smell.—Native of Siberia; peculiar to the subalpine tracts 
of eastern Asia. 
3. Rhododendrum chrysanthum.'—Leaves oblong, undotted, 
above rugged and very much veined, corolla wheel-shaped, 
irregular, flowering-bud ferruginous-tomentose. This shrub, in 
alpine situations is less than a foot in height, in lower grounds 
it grows to a foot and a half, sending out abundance of de¬ 
cumbent branches, having their ends emerging from the 
moss, subdivided, bearing both leaves and flowers. ■ Trunk 
seldom the thickness of two or three fingers, commonly an 
inch thick. Flowers handsome, large, nodding. Caly^c 
none, except the receptacle of the flower, and especially of 
the fruit, slightly margined and oblique. Seeds irregular, like 
sawdust, gray.—Native of Siberia, in the highest mountains. 
R H O 
4. Rhododendrum hirsutum, or hairy rhododendron. 
Leaves ciliate, naked, corollas funnel-shaped.—This shrub 
seldom rises two feet high, and sends out many short woody 
branches^ covered with a light brown bark. The flowers 
are produced in bunches at the ends of the branches.—Native 
of the mountains of Switzerland, Austria, Syria, and Dau¬ 
phiny. 
(>. Rhododendrum chamaecistus. Leaves ciliate, corollas 
wheel-shaped.-—This is a small shrub, very much branched, 
the extreme branches leafy: Calyx deeply five-cleft, red¬ 
dish-brown ; the segments acute.—Native of Austria, Car- 
niola, Monte Baldo, and near Saltzburgh. 
6. Rhododendrum ponticum, or purple rhododendron.— 
Leaves lanceolate, shining smooth on both sides, racemes 
terminating. Trunk upright, shrubby, commonly the 
height of a man, but sometimes only half so high, frequent¬ 
ly thicker than the human arm, very much branched from 
the bottom irregularly; the wood white, the bark ash-co¬ 
loured. Branches round, scarred, with a smoothish testa¬ 
ceous bark. Flowers in a short raceme at the end of the 
branchlets, about ten, and very handsome.—Native of the 
Levant and Gibraltar; also of Georgia, in the southern 
subalpine tracts of Caucasus, &c. It flowers in May and 
June. 
7. Rhododendrum Caucasicum.—Leaves ovate, rugged, 
bent in at the edge, umbels terminating, bractes elongated. 
Root creeping among moss, thick, woody. Trunk arbores¬ 
cent, eighteen inches high, diffused and procumbent, scarred, 
ascending at the end, and there leafy and flowering. Flowers 
in an umbel-shaped corymb, having from six to nine erect 
peduncles, the length of the leaves, hairy, one-flowered. 
Bractes remaining from the flowering bud, larger than in 
rhododendrum chrysanthum, ovate-lanceolate, ferruginous, 
subtomentose. No calyx, except the receptacle of the flower. 
—Native of the higher rocks of Caucasus, near the perpetual 
ice, in the highest range of shrubby vegetation, with myr- 
tillus and vitis idaea. 
8. Rhododendrum Kamtschaticum.—Leaves ciliate nerved, 
corollas wheel-shaped, calyxes leafy. This is a very elegant 
undershrub. Root woody, dry, the size of a quill, creeping 
by prostrate runners, of a brown testaceous colour. Branch- 
lets rising, leafy, frequent. Calyx from five foliaceous, 
three-nerved, ciliate leaflets, like the rest of the leaves, two 
of them more approximating than the others. Corolla 
wheel-shaped. 
It grows abundantly in the peninsula of Kamtschatka and 
Bering’s island, in muddy places on the mountains. It 
begins to flower at the end of July, and ripens its seeds 
towards the end of September. 
9. Rhododendrum maximum, or broad-leaved rhododen¬ 
dron.—Leaves oval shining, blunt, veined with an acute reflex 
margin, peduncles one-flowered. This rises, in its native 
soil, fifteen or sixteen feet high, with a shrubby stalk, send¬ 
ing out a few branches towards the top.-r-Native of North 
America, upon rocks, where it continues flowering great part 
of the summer, and is a great ornament to their barren sur¬ 
faces. 
Propagation and Culture .—These shrubs are propagated 
by seeds, which should be sown as soon as possible after they 
are ripe, either in a shady border, or in pots filled with fresh 
loam, and very lightly covered with earth. Plunge the pots 
up to their rims in a shady border, and in hard frost cover 
them with bell or hand-glasses; taking them off in mild 
weather. If these seeds be sown early in autumn, the plants 
will come up the following spring. These must be kept 
shaded from the sun, especially the first summer, and duly 
refreshed with water: in the autumn following transplant 
them to a shady situation, and on a loamy soil, covering the 
ground about their roots with moss, to guard them from 
frost in winter, and keep the ground moist in summer. 
RHODQLiENA, [from poSov, a rose, and a cloak 
or outer covering.] in botany, a genus so named by Aubert 
du Petit-Thouars, because of the fine rose colour of the flow¬ 
ers. 
RHODOMAN 
