30 
THE SIKKIM RHODODENDRONS. 
covered by large red sheathing scales, the sterile stems grow up veiy much resembling those of the 
common ginger, and among these grow the flowers on very short scapes, also clothed with loose red 
scales, from among which the flowers issue. The conspicuous part of these flowers consists of two 
series of organs, the exterior tubular below, and cut into three erect oblong segments, white, tinged 
with yellow and rose: the inner series is reduced to one larger segment, whose tubular base is included 
in the tube of the outer series, and whose limb is rotundate, somewhat folded and undulate at the 
margin, pure white, with yellow at the base. Two or three such flowers are produced on each scape, 
and these are succeeded by the capsules containing hot acrid seeds, which form the Grains of 
Paradise. 
THE SIKKIM RHODODEXDROXS.* 
B E. HOOKER’S account of the Himalayan Rhododendrons is one of the most beautiful of recent 
contributions to botanical literature, whether in regard to the character of the plants on which it 
treats, or to the execution of the plates, which are admirably drawn by Mr. Fitch, from Dr. Hooker’s, 
sketches made whilst travelling in 
the most elevated region of the globe. 
From this tract there are here enu¬ 
merated no fewer than forty-three 
species of Rhododendron, most of 
them previously unknown to science; 
and of this number, thirty-one are 
depicted in inimitable folio figures. 
These species of the Himalayas, and 
those of Java recently brought into 
notice — of which latter group we 
lately observed some additional no- 
velties in the Xursery of Messrs. 
Rollison of Tooting—must open up 
an entirely new field for planters and 
hybridizers, and give rise to a com¬ 
plete change in the aspect of this 
showy and fayourite race of hardy 
* •/ 
shrubs. The cultivabihty and hardi¬ 
ness of the pure Sikkim species must, 
as yet, be considered an unsettled 
point; but they cannot fail to haye a 
material influence on the future cross- 
rhododexdeox lepidotum, var. eljeagxoides. breeding of our present hardy races. 
Xow that Dr. Hooker’s work is completed, we purpose giving a brief and connected enumeration 
of the new kinds he has figured, embodying some corrections he has since published. We shal] take 
another opportunity to offer a few observations on the climate of Sikkim, from another source. Dr. 
Hooker arranges the species as follows :— 
I. Calyx obsolete. Corolla broadly campanulate, hemispherical at the base. Stamens 18—20 (rarely 10). 
Ovary 10—20 celled. Trees with ample leaves, and, capitate, often crowded flowers. 
P- Palconeri (J. D. Hooker). Plate 10.—A large tree, thirty feet high, having very large broad blunt leaves, 
ferruginous and veiny beneath; and dense heads of small ten-lohed white flowers. Elevation 10 to 12,000 feet. 
P. Hodgsani (J. D. H.). Plate 15.—A hush twelve to twenty feet high, with large leaves, silvery beneath, and 
close heads of pale rosy-lilac eight to ten-lobed flowers. Elevation 10 to 12,000 feet, in moist alpine forests. 
P. argenteum (J. D. H.) Plate 9.—A noble tree, thirty feet high, with very large ohovate-oblong leaves, 
and large heads of pure white flowers. Elevation 8 to 10,000 feet. 
* The Rhododendrons of Sikkim Himalaya. By Dr. J. D. Hooker. M.D., R.X. Edited by Sir W. J. Hooker. Complete in 
Three Parts. London : Reeve and Benham. 
© 
