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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, July 7, 1857. 
A NOTICE OF SOME SPECIES OF RHODODENDRON INHABITING BORNEO. 
(Concluded from page 173.) 
4. Rhododendron longiflorum. 
Sp. Char. Leaves verticillate, perfectly smooth, shining, 
obovate, convex, with a revolute edge, shortly stalked, with 
copious green points on both, especially the under sides. 
Peduncles short, erect, downy. Calyx obsolete. Corolla 
three or four times as long as the peduncles, with a long 
curved tube, and an erect, short, bluntly five-lobed equal 
limb, which eventually falls back. Stamens as long as 
the corolla. Anthers short. 
“This remarkable plant,” Mr. Low writes, “is found on 
high trees in low and damp jungles in the vicinity of 
Sarawak. It grows about eight feet high, and when covered 
with its crimson tube-shaped blossoms is exceedingly beau¬ 
tiful. It flowers when very small, but does not grow very 
freely until after it has attained considerable size. Its seeds 
are tailed, and in general habit it approaches the yellow and 
verticillate species (A. verticillatum).” 
Although smaller in every part than the species previously 
described, this is hardly inferior in beauty, on account of 
the intense crimson colour of its long tubular blossoms. 
The latter are very distinctly curved, full two inches long, 
and grow in close heads, each consisting of from nine to ten 
flowers. The leaves are about one inch and a half broad, 
and three inches and a half long. 
Mr. Low calls this species Rhododendron tubiflorum, a 
name I am obliged to alter, because it is not the same as the 
Vireya (or Rhododendron) tubijlora of Blume. 
It has been suggested to me that these fine plants will 
not prove cultivable, because they are epiphytes. I cannot 
concur in this opinion. The mode of managing epiphytes 
is now so well understood, in respect to Orchids and Bromel- 
worts, that even if it should be necessary to treat the Malay 
Rhododendrons in the same manner, no serious difficulty 
can be apprehended. Blume tells us that the Java species 
are mostly “ parasitical on trees,” that is to say epiphytes; 
and yet the Rhododendron Javanicum is as manageable as 
Rhododendron arborevm. 
The probability, however, is, that they do not require to be 
treated as epiphytes, and that, like Orchids, they will grow 
better if committed judiciously to the earth. It was a 
sagacious remark of the late Dean of Manchester, that we 
are wrong in supposing plants always to prefer the places in 
which they are found naturally. He believed that plants 
often occupy particular stations, and exhibit particular 
habits, on account of the necessity of their position, and 
because in more favourable places they would be smothered 
by the surrounding vegetation. This may possibly be the 
case with the plants in question. It is quite conceivable 
that they may have taken refuge in Borneo in the branches 
of trees, because of the impossibility of establishing 
themselves in the marshy soil of a country frequently under 
water for long periods at a time; and there is nothing in 
the nature of things to render it improbable that the 
saturated air may yield them all the food they require in a 
country visited by incessant thunderstorms, which deposit 
large stores of nitrogen upon every branch and every leaf. 
In this view of their nature it may be conjectured that 
the Malay Rhododendrons will grow under the usual treat¬ 
ment of a damp stove, provided the soil in which they are 
potted is chiefly composed of loose decayed vegetable 
materials, such as half and wholly rotten leaves and sticks. 
It will also be important to consider whether in resting 
them it will be requisite to do more than slightly lower 
their temperature, and diminish, without withholding, the 
moisture which they appear to require. From the state¬ 
ments of Mr. Low it would appear that 
Rhododendron gracile is perpetually in bloom, 
a circumstance that leads to the inference 
that a season of rest must be almost un¬ 
known to it. 
Unfortunately we have no tolerable account 
of the details of the Bornean climate: the 
temperature of the soil, or the data from 
which it could be computed, the amount 
of atmospheric moisture, the relation which 
the cold of night bears to the heat of day, 
the rate at which temperature fluctuates, are 
all matters upon which information is wanted. 
In the meanwhile Mr. Low’s Sarawak must 
be taken as our best guide in the inquiry ; 
and with the following extracts from his 
Avork the present memorandum may be 
closed: — 
“ The climate of Borneo, like that of most 
of the eastern islands, has been found ex¬ 
ceedingly healthy to persons whose avoca¬ 
tions do not render great exposure necessary. 
The north-east monsoon, or that which blows 
from April to October, is the rainy period; 
but a day rarely passes during the south- 
Avest or fine monsoon Avithout a refreshing 
shower. This, with the constant warmth, 
causes everything to grow during the whole 
year, the forests being clothed Avith a per¬ 
petual verdure, Avhich gives the islands, Avhen 
seen from the sea, a beautiful appearance, 
possessed by no country in the Avorld to so 
great an extent; shrubs (Hibiscus) and 
flowering trees (Barringtonia) always over¬ 
hanging the margin of the ocean, and the 
inland mountains are observed covered to 
their summits Avitli a dense and luxuriant 
vegetation. 
“ In temperature it has never been found 
by Europeans to be oppressively hot, the 
thermometer generally averaging 70° to 72° 
Fahrenheit in the mornings and evenings, 
and 82° to 85° at 2 r.m., Avhich is generally 
the hottest part of the day; and though in the 
