30 
THE FLORISTS JOURNAL. 
Azalea Indica Candidissimum maximum, represented in our 
present illustration, is a seedling produced from the beautiful and 
well-known variety, A. Phoenicia, the habit of which it very much 
resembles. It bears a profusion of the most delicately pure 
white flowers, of much larger size than those of any other variety 
yet produced ; it has a fine evergreen foliage, is regarded as a 
great improvement on the white varieties of Azalea, and cannot fail 
in being a splendid addition to every collection. 
Azalea Indica Cjerulescens, the second variety figured in 
the plate, though not equal to the first, is still a very fine flower. 
It is a seedling, bearing a strong resemblance to A. purpurea, but 
it is a much more profuse bloomer. As the trivial name imports, 
the colour is a bluish purple, very distinct from that of any other 
variety. 
The soil most congenial to the growth of these plants, and 
indeed of all the Azaleas generally which are grown in pots, is a 
compost of peat, loam, and fine sharp sand. Being obtained in 
part from the oriental varieties, they are not adapted for standing 
permanently in the open air ; but for the greenhouse, the pit, or 
the frame, they may be considered very hardy plants ; and, when 
grown in the above-mentioned compost, and with due attention 
paid to watering, potting, and other necessary operations, they 
become worthy to be classed among the most beautiful flowering 
shrubs that are cultivated. These, and all the oriental varieties, 
and most of the hybrids obtained from them, belong to the Hep- 
tandria Monogynia of the Linnssan system, and not to Pentandria 
Monogynia ; but, as fertile hybrids are obtained from crosses 
between plants, of both Linnasan forms, it shows clearly that the 
number of anthers, instead of being a proper foundation for the dis¬ 
tinction of classes, is not even a specific distinction in the proper 
acceptation of the term. This is one, among others, of the many 
proofs that the Linnaean system conduces little to the true know¬ 
ledge of plants, and helps to explain the reason why vegetable 
physiology was so uncertain, and in such a languishing state, 
during the time when the sexual system was all-dominant. This 
might have been expected as the result of a system founded upon 
single characters, the differences of which are probably very 
trivial. 
T. A. 
Camden Nursery , May 1840 . 
