Wt}t EfjoboDenbron ^oteiS, 
and affinities, and in the case of hybrids, their parentage. I should consider, 
then, this paper very worthless were I not to say something in it as to the 
parentage of the plants which I have been praising. 
Mr. Taylor, at my request, has given me the following particulars, which no 
doubt are substantially correct, though they differ slightly from a list published 
in the Garden in 1875. I understand that the first-named of the two plants 
is the seed-bearer. 
First Crossing; R. javanicum and jasminiflorum, the produce being 
R. “ Princess Royal,” R. “ Princess Helena.” 
Second Crossing : R. “ Princess Royal ” and jasminiflorum, the produce 
being R. “Princess Alexandra.” 
Third Crossing: R. Lobbii and javanicum, R. Lobbii and “ Princess 
Royal,” R. Lobbii and “ Princess Helena,” R. Lobbii and Brookeanum, 
the produce being the various hybrids which the Messrs. Veitch have hitherto 
shown and distributed. 
Now, I can fancy some of my readers, after the study of this genealogy, 
sighing that I have left them just as wise as I found them; that of 
R. JASMINIFLORUM they know no more than the name indicates ; of R. javanicum 
no more than I told them in a former paper ; and of R. Lobbii and Brookeanum 
(figured in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1871, p. 236), absolutely nothing at all. 
The truth is, that these species are but seldom cultivated ; and as to the two 
last, people may hunt far and wide and yet not see them. Do I then need any 
apology for repeating information which doubtless has already appeared in this 
journal, but which seems very much in point in a series of papers written to 
encourage the cultivation of Rhododendrons as a special study ? 
R. JASMINIFLORUM, which, as the best known, I take first, is figured and 
described in the Botanical Magazine, Vol. LXXVI., t. 4524. It was 
introduced from Mount Ophir, Malacca, and was exhibited at Chiswick, from 
the Nursery of the Messrs. Veitch, in 1850 ; and this is what Sir William Hooker 
said of it: ‘‘ Many of the flowers excelled it in splendour ; but the delicacy of 
form and colour of the flowers (white with a deep pink eye), and probably their 
resemblance to the favourite Jessamine (some compared them to the equally 
favourite Stephanotis), attracted general notice. 
“ So unlike, indeed, are they to the ordinary form of Rhododendron blossoms 
that a reporter in recounting the prizes of the day seemed to imply that it was 
probably no Rhododendron at all.” The leaves of this species are very thick 
and substantial, the growth dwarf, the habit most floriferous, and the flowering, 
under favourable circumstances, nearly continuous. Plants, well set with 
blossom-buds, are easily to be procured at a very moderate price. Such was 
the first pollen-parent of the new strain. 
R. JAVANICUM is figured in the Botanical Magazine, Vol. LXXV. (1847), 
and Sir W. Hooker thus describes it: ” On communicating this splendid plant 
to me for figuring in the Botanical Magazine, Messrs. Veitch & Sons, its 
possessors, remark that it is certainly one of the finest things ever introduced to 
55 
