INDIAN AZALEAS, 
9/ 
INDIAN AZALEAS, 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
If we were about to introduce a new class of plants of equal 
beauty with those forming the subject of the present paper, we 
should feel very diffident of our descriptive powers—it would be 
a task involving no little embarrassment lest the full mete of jus¬ 
tice were not awarded. Fortunately, however, Azaleas are so 
well known and properly esteemed, as to need no encomium at 
our hands. We have only to point to what has been done with 
them, and show the way in which it may be done again, to fulfil 
all that is required of us. To do this in a manner that may the 
better illustrate the present position of the class, it will be ne¬ 
cessary to take a slight retrospective glance at the original con¬ 
dition of the materials with which our cultivators have had to 
deal. 
The first of the Indian group known to us (A. Indica) was in¬ 
troduced in 1808, but it was not till near twenty years after that 
much attention was given to the family; in the interim a few 
others, such as Phoenicia , ledifolia and varieyata , had been 
known, and the practice of originating seedling varieties then 
fairly commenced. From the circumstance of all having the 
same, or nearly the same, plants to operate on, a great similarity 
pervaded all the productions of the first few years : thus, Phoenicia , 
being found a prolific seed bearer, the varieties possessing more 
or less of its character were multiplied exceedingly; the same 
rambling growth, and the long, flimsy, pointed petals which dis¬ 
tinguished the parent were equally evident in its offspring. Nor 
did the introduction of Danielsiana, in 1830, at all improve or 
counteract this tendency. Its bright colour was a great induce¬ 
ment to the hybridizers of the day to employ it in their endea¬ 
vours for novelty, but being naturally deficient of every qualifica¬ 
tion, save that mentioned, it was not likely that the progeny of 
so ill-assorted a match should possess a character likely to render 
them permanent objects of esteem. The consequence of this has 
been the almost entire rejection of the earlier varieties in favour 
of other and more recent kinds. The production of Gledstanesii 
9 
ii. 
