Ef?e Eijobobenbron ^ocietp 
in others a scent said to be like May-blossom, and in others no scent at 
all (Sir Joseph describes the species as inodorous). The leafage is not uniform, 
and the brilliant red scales which ornament the rising leaf-shoot in some are not 
possessed by others. Moreover, some plants appear to have a strong tendency 
to abortive stamens. 
Be all this, however, as it may be, there is no doubt, I think, that our plant, 
in its various forms, is one of the grandest ever introduced to cultivation. M^hen 
it is stated that a single flower in a truss of six, seven, eight, or nine flowers is 
sometimes inches in diameter, the difficulty of conveying an adequate notion 
of its beauty in a plate of limited size will be understood. That the leaves are 
sometimes nearly 1 foot long and copious does not lessen the difficulty. 
But even this does not exhaust the marvel. I have it under the hand of my 
friend, Mr. Otto Forster (who among his other achievements was the first to 
bloom R. Nuttalli in Europe), that, in his winter garden at Augsburg, a bush 
of R. Aucklandii bore in one season 122 trusses of its magnificent flowers. 
Yet it is most appropriate that this and other Himalayan Rhododendrons 
should be described in connection with Kew Gardens under the presidency of 
the greatest of modern botanists. Those who have read that interesting and 
inimitable book entitled Himalayan Journals will know how in 1848 and 1849, 
Sir J. Hooker explored, under very great difficulties, regions before and ever 
since unvisited, and discovered a whole host of floral treasures, among which 
were our Sikkim Rhododendrons. Sikkim, indeed, proved a very nest of 
Rhododendrons, scarlet, purple, yellow, orange, white, scented and scentless, 
scaly and unscaly, in marvellous profusion, from the stately R. argenteum to 
the tiny R. nivale, from an elevation of 6,000 feet to one of 17,000 feet. Bhotan, 
which had been previously explored by Griffith, proved almost as prolific when 
ransacked by Booth. Would that both countries could be ransacked again. 
Meanwhile, Sir J. Hooker’s magnificent plates in his Rhododendrons of- 
Sikkim-Himalaya, supplemented by those in the Botanical Magazine, 
introduce to a new world of floral beauty, of which the great proportion of the 
horticultural public are still nearly wholly ignorant. Sir J. Hooker transmitted 
seed to Kew without delay, whence it was liberally distributed. The first to 
bloom was R. ciliatum, then R. Dalhousi.®, in the wonderfully short period 
of three years. R. Aucklandii, from which I must apologize for wandering, 
required no less than nine years. Since 1860 descriptions of the blooming of 
this species have from time to time been given. From Cornwall and Yorkshire, 
from Scotland and Germany, and elsewhere, men have written to say how the 
magnificent flowers have astonished and delighted them. Undoubtedly, the 
greatest success was achieved by Mr. Otto Forster, as related above; but Mr. 
Anderson-Henry and others frequently bloomed the plant, while Mr. Boscawen 
induced his specimen to produce most glorious trusses in the open air at 
Lamorran, in Cornwall. At Kew, for many years past, R. Aucklandii has been 
a chief ornament and attraction offered by the temperate-house. 
Never, perhaps, has it been seen in greater perfection than in the plant from 
which this plate was taken. This plant is not a seedling, but a graft on R. 
ARBOREUM, put On some few years ago. 
101 
