January 23. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 323 
The Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica), a native of 
Western Asia, is generally supposed to be tlio willow of the 
Euphrates, upon which, as we read in the Bible (Ps. cxxxvii.), 
the Jewish singers hung their musical instruments. It is 
not, however, mentioned by any ancient Greek or Roman 
writers, nor yet by the Italians of the middle ages, and, 
common as it now is all over Europe, it does not appear in 
auy catalogue of Italian gardens until that compiled by 
Micheli, in 1715, of the botanical gardens of Florence. It 
is, however, clearly represented by Benvenuto Cellini on a 
basin in the Royal collection at Florence, executed in the 
sixteenth century, but whence that artist derived his models 
is unknown. 
The Pride of India (Melia azedarach), now common in 
Southern Europe, is an East Indian tree, first brought into 
Italy from the Levant in the sixteenth century, as it is 
supposed, by the Franciscan friars. It was then chiefly 
planted about convents, the perforated kernels being used 
for making paternoster chaplets. It is first mentioned in 
Tuscan catalogues in 1035. 
The Julibrissin (Albizzia julibrizzin), a favourite orna¬ 
mental tree in Southern Europe, as well as in Northern 
Africa, the Levant, and East India, is a native of the 
mountains of Central Asia, from the Caucasus to China. It 
was first brought into Italy from Constantinople in 1749, by j 
the Cavaliere Filippo Albizzi, to whom Durazzini dedicated 
the genus he founded upon it, which has been adopted by 
botanists since the last revision of the Mimosas of Linnseus. 
The Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is supposed to be a Persian 
shrub, introduced into Europe about the year 1597. It was, 
however, certainly in the botanical garden at Padua before 
1577, for Matthioli, who died in that year, tolls us he had 
received a fresh specimen in flower from Cortuso, then 
director of the Padua garden, during the time that he was 
finishing his commentary on Dioscorides. The small-leaved 
Persian lilac (Syringa persica) is of still more recent 
introduction, and said to come from the same country. Wo 
are not aware of any really wild specimen of either species 
having been deposited in our herbaria, or having been 
actually met with by modern travellers, but we should be 
inclined to believe that the common lilac is but a luxuriant 
variety of the Persian produced by cultivation, and the 
more so as some intermediate forms known by the names of 
Mas varin, etc., have been raised from seeds of the latter. 
The Transylvanian Syringa Josikma, now occasionally to 
be met with in gardens, is a perfectly distinct scentless 
species. 
Hibiscus syriacus, the Althaea frutex of our gardens, of 
Syrian origin, as its name implies, has become naturalised 
in the hedges of some parts of Northern Italy. The precise 
date of its introduction is unknown, but it certainly had 
already been for some years in Florentine gardens previous 
to 1590, the period assigned for its introduction into 
England. 
Amongst the North American trees, more or less generally 
established in Italy, Professor Targioni enters into some 
details respecting the following species: the Acacia or 
Locust-tree (Robinia pseudacacia), the Tulip-tree (Lirio- 
dendron tulipiferumj, the Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), 
the Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), the Negundo Ash 
(Negundo fraxinifolia), the Deciduous Cypress (Taxodium 
distichum), the Glenditschia triacanthos, Bignonia Catalpa, 
Pyrus coronaria, and Juniperus virgin uma, They all succeed 
remarkably well in Italian climates, to which they had been 
introduced at various periods during the course of the 
eighteenth century. 
The Casse or Cassis of French perfumers (Acacia farne- 
siana), of South American origin, is much cultivated in 
Southern Europe for ornament, and in some localities for 
the extraction of the essence from its flowers. It is so 
generally spread over the hotter regions of both hemispheres, 
that it has been recorded as indigenous to many parts of 
the Old World, as well as of America; and some of the 
most careful observers among modern East Indian botanists, 
seeing it so abundant in parts of the peninsula at con¬ 
siderable distances from the haunts of Europeans, have 
felt convinced that it was a real denizen. Yet there are 
many circumstances which induce us to come to the 
conclusion that it has only become naturalised after cul¬ 
tivation. 
It has ever found much favour with the Arabs and other 
Mahometan races, and sows itself with remarkable facility, 
and it is most frequently found in India around villages. 
On the other hand it is an undoubted native of the West 
Indies and of South America, and was never known in the 
Mediterranean region until introduced from thence. We 
are told that the first seeds were raised at Rome in 1011, in 
the garden of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, having been 
imported direct from St. Domingo, and that from the issue 
of those plants it subsequently spread over Southern 
Europe. It is not stated whether it may not also have been 
at an early period brought over from South America by the 
Spaniards. 
Schinus molle, commonly but improperly called the 
pepper-tree, was certainly first introduced by the Spaniards 
from Chili or Peru before the year 1570, when a fruiting 
branch was sent to Clusius from Spain. It is now very 
common in Southern Italy, but no less so in Tuscany, 
where it is often injured by the winter frosts. 
Among Eastern trees introduced into Italy through France 
or England in the course of last century, the Broussonetia 
papyrifera, Ailanthus glandulosa, Sterculia platanifolia and 
Ginkgo biloba (commonly called in this country Salisburia 
adiaiitifolia), are not unfrequently to bo met with in 
Southern Europe; and the Camellia, first cultivated in 
Italy in the Caserta garden, near Naples, in 1700, is now a 
great favourite in Tuscany, where, in sheltered situations, it 
will attain great size and beauty in the open air. 
The common Boses of Italian gardens are none of them 
indigenous, but the native country and precise form of the 
wild type of most of them is involved in much uncertainty. 
The most anciently and generally cultivated one, the 
common Cabbage Bose (Rosa centifolia), is that which is 
the most generally alluded to by poets and other writers, 
from the days of Virgil and Pliny, to our own times. It is 
also much cultivated in Southern Europe for the use of 
perfumers. It is said to have been brought from Persia 
into Greece and Italy in very remote times. The Provence 
Bose (Rosa gallica) is found wild in France and Germany, 
but whether indigenous or not it is uncertain. It is 
believed to have been referred to by Pliny, under the names 
of Rosa pramestina, carlhaginensis, and milesia. The Damask 
Bose (R. damascena), and the common White Bose (R. 
alba), are also believed to have been among those enumerated 
by Pliny, and to be natives of Southern Europe, though not 
of Italy. The Bosa moschata appeals to have been introduced 
from the Levant in the sixteenth century. The climbing 
roses, now forming so beautiful a feature in Italian pro¬ 
menades and gardens (Rosa indica, R. Banksiana, and R. 
multiflora), are of very recent importation from French and 
English gardens, as none of them appear to have been 
known in Italy before the commencement of the present 
century. 
From the latter end of the sixteenth century, there arose 
in various parts of Italy, especially at Florence, a great rage 
for the cultivation of innumerable varieties of Anemones 
(A. coronaria), Banun cuius (R. asiaticus), Hyacinths (II. 
orientalis), Tulips (T. Gesneriana), and Narcissus (N. 
poeticus). The wild types of most of them, perhaps of all 
except the ranunculus, are to be found in Italy and Greece 
as well in the Levant, but the production and cultivation of 
the garden varieties of all of them commenced in the East. 
They were all introduced into Western Europe from 
Constantinople at various periods between the years 1550 
and 1000, together with the Crown Imperial (Fritillaria 
imperialis), said to be a native of Persia, the Muscari 
moseliatum from the shores of the Bosphorus, the Liliani 
ehalcedonicum from the Levant, which had all been then for 
some time in Coustantinopolitan gardens. Of all the 
above-mentioned flowers, the anemone and narcissus alone 
can be recognised under those names in the writings of the 
ancient Romans, for the various hyacinths of Virgil and 
Pliny were evidently very different from the plant we give 
that name to. 
The Tuberose (Polyanthes tuberosa) is generally said to 
be a native of East India, Java, and Ceylon, but it is there 
everywhere cultivated, as it is also in almost every South 
American garden, and its origin is very uncertain. Judging 
from the localities of its nearest allies in the genera Agave 
and Besehorneria, we should consider some part of the 
