3^i|otiobenbron ^octetp ^otes^. 
the miserable, and R. fulgens used to stand beside, but has now disappeared ; 
nor let the visitor omit to notice the grand leaves of R. Nuttallii, and of a 
young plant of R. Auckxandii, and then let him come back to R. Edgeworthii, 
inferior to none, though less imposing. 
R. Edgeworthii is in truth so beautiful and so unique that it must have 
required some courage to think of blending it with other species, unless for the 
sake of experiment, or to infuse hardiness. My sympathies, however, are not 
exclusively with the champions of natural species, nor with the hybridisers, but 
with both. I am for giving fair play to both, and it is not because I admire 
enthusiastically R. Edgeworthii that I would depreciate such an excellent and 
useful hybrid as R. “ Princess Alice,” bred from R. ciliatum, with pollen 
of R. Edgeworthii. The hybrid is certainly hardier, freer in blooming, more 
compact, and scarcely, when well grown, inferior in flower. 
I have lately in your columns described the double origin of this plant. 
More dwarf, and perhaps more sweet-scented, are the various hybrids raised 
between our species and R. multiflorum. R. ” Sesterianum ” was raised by 
Rinz & Co., of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, from R. formosum (otherwise Gibsonii), 
with pollen of R. Edgeworthii. It is a truly excellent and lovely flower, with 
a yellow instead of a roseate tinge. Many types of the same cross are in 
cultivation, of which ‘‘Duchess of Buccleuch,” as grown by Messrs. 
Downie & Laird, of Edinburgh (to whose grand show of Rhododendrons I must 
presently relate my visit), is perhaps the best. 
R. ‘‘ MAGNiFLORUM,” between R. Edgeworthii and ‘‘ Countess of Had¬ 
dington,” was raised by Mr. Parker, of Tooting, and has produced with me 
open flowers, pure white, and of a large size. And last, but not least, I 
must mention R. ‘‘ Forsterianum,” raised by Mr. Otto Forster from R. 
Veitchianum fertilized with pollen of R. Edgeworthii. 
Of this last I have had excellent experience, having seen for the last two 
years or more, plants of great beauty at Messrs. VeitclTs ; but a short time since 
a case, 8 feet long, reached me from near Vienna, containing several very fine 
plants, presented to me by my munificent friend. So well were the plants 
packed that in a few days after their arrival they were in full bloom and the 
admiration of everybody. The flowers were of an exquisite lemon or primrose 
tinge, very large and scented, and inherited the ineffable delicacy of R. 
Veitchianum, with more substance—^in fact, they were more like a Rhodo¬ 
dendron and less like an Azalea, although all are Rhododendrons now. 
The foliage is intermediate, but it is a curious fact that none of the hybrid 
progeny of R. Edgeworthii inherit, when mature, the thick tomentum under 
the leaf, but when young most of them show it. In mature plants it is best to 
examine the pedicel for traces of Edgeworthii blood. I must now close with 
two practical observations. 
1st.—In all the hybrids from R. Edgeworthii, of which I know, our species 
has been the pollen parent, never the seed-bearer. 
Inheritance of 
tomentum by 
hybrids. 
79 
