66 
TREATMENT OF THE JAVANESE RHODODENDRON. 
pedicels are twice as long as the calyx, and come from the axil of a small bract, hut are, in our speci¬ 
men, entirely without hracteoles; the calyx teeth are fringed with minute transparent hairs, which 
are probably glandular when fresh. The colour of the corolla is a deep rose, darker on the keel, and 
fading purplish. In the dried state we find but imperfect traces of calli on the standard. The stigma 
is bearded on one side along the back, which character, conjointly with its habit and the propor¬ 
tions of the corolla, has led us to refer it to Swainsona. The fruit we have not seen, but the ovary is 
shorter than the stamens, smooth, and attached by a footstalk about as long as the calyx. 
To cultivate this plant well, it should, when growing freely, be liberally shifted into a good com¬ 
post of peat and loam, and early in spring the tops of the shoots should he removed, in order to pro¬ 
duce a greater number of stems, and these should he suffered to grow on till they flower. Cuttings of 
the young shoots will afford means of propagation. Until its hardiness has been ascertained, it should 
be treated as a frame plant.—M. 
TREATMENT OE THE JAVANESE RHODODENDRON. 
DMIRERS of the Rhododendron must look upon the recent additions to this group of flowering 
shrubs with high anticipations, and, no doubt, a new era is about to commence in the history of 
these favourite shrubs. Rhododendron javanicum stands conspicuous among the novelties, being 
new in colour, the flowers hold, of much substance, and freely produced; and the foliage broad and 
glossy. In Java, this plant is found growing on volcanic mountains, at an elevation of 9000 feet and 
upwards. In the same locality are found the Gaultheria leucocarpa, a dwarf shrub, with red 
hairy stems, alternate cordate-acuminate serrated leaves, and small lily-of-the-valley-like flowers, 
hut chiefly remarkable for the numerous white berries with which it is studded in the winter season, 
even when the plant is not more than one foot in height. On the same mountains grows the crimson- 
flowered Vaccinium Rollissonii. 
Rhododendron javanicum is partly epiphytal in habit, being found occasionally on the decaying 
trunks of trees ; at other times on the sides of the mountains, in a rich vegetable deposit, intermixed 
with spent lava, and which is also overgrown with Mosses, and a Hymenophyllum very much like our 
native H. tunbridgense. Various Lichens, of delicate thread-like texture, cling to the stems and 
branches. It has also been detected, in some instances, on the crumbling walls of old buildings, said 
to he the Idol Temples of the Javanese. In these native wilds it rarely attains a greater height than 
six feet, and forming a spreading hush. The stems of imported plants of R. javanicum are strangely 
contorted in their growth, which appears to be produced by the efforts of the plant to disentangle 
itself from the surrounding vegetation; but seedlings raised in this country are free from curvature, 
either of stem or branch. It is a difficult plant to import in a living state ; the long sea voyage— 
generally five months—the pent-up atmosphere, and the extremes of temperature to which it is sub¬ 
jected, being anything hut congenial to the well-being of a mountain plant. 
The majority of the plants at present in this country were raised from seeds ripened and collected 
in Java in 1847, and received early in the spring of 1848. They were immediately sown in the usual 
manner, and had germinated in about three weeks; and, although they require the greatest attention 
during the first twelve months of their existence, after that time they are as easily managed as an 
ordinary Rhododendron or Azalea. If the plants require re-potting, let it he done as soon as the young 
leaves begin to unfold themselves. The pots should he rather small in proportion to the size of the 
plants: the drainage should occupy fully one-third of their depth, and the remaining space covered 
with a layer of rough fibrous peat. The amount of drainage may appear excessive, bat it must be 
borne in mind that the natural locality of the plant offers the most effective drainage, and altogether 
prevents the retention of water at the roots; the fibres, also, are exceedingly fine, and are soon injured 
by any excess of moisture. 
The most suitable soil for it is Wimbledon and Shirley peat, in equal proportions, well chopped-up 
together, and passed through a coarse sieve, with a liberal addition of sharp silver sand; if the peat 
