^Rfjoijobentiron ^ocietp ^otesf. 
in giving the date 1820, if he intended it as that of the original introduction, as 
no R. ARBOREUM would reach the blossoming state in five years from seed. 
The two most likely collectors after Hardwicke were Hamilton* (once 
Buchanan) and Wallich, successive Superintendents of the Botanic Gardens 
at Calcutta. It is to the latter of these that Hooker and Paxton give the credit, 
but he did not visit Nepal until 1819-20. Hamilton resided in that country 
in 1802 and 1803, and we know from his correspondence that he sent seeds of this 
tree from Nepal to his friend Dr. Roxburgh, then Superintendent of the Botanic 
Garden at Calcutta. On April 11th, 1802, writing from Chitlong, he informed 
Roxburgh of his despatch of seeds of “Rhododendron purpureum. Buck., a 
most elegant tree. It must be the one described by Captain Hardwicke, whose 
paper I have not seen.” The name “ purpureum ” was what he evidently 
proposed for the tree—a very unsuitable one to our ideas—but possibly he may 
have seen only faded flowers. He sent Roxburgh two further consignments of 
seeds from Catmandu, one on January 31st, 1803, the other on March 10th, 1803. 
In 1810 Hamilton was stationed on the borders of Nepal, and sent collectors 
into that country. Writing from Nauthpore, June 30th, 1810, he says : " I 
send by our friend Mr. Smith, a few seeds and young plants. ... I have repeatedly 
sent into the hills. ... As the most unhealthy season is over, I hope to be able to 
procure a considerable suppl 3 '' [of seeds] for you, which I shall be able to dispatch 
when the fair weather sets in and before I leave this place.” 
We can see therefore that Hamilton was anxious to get the Rhododendron 
and other plants established in cultivation. There is no specimen of his in the 
Kew Herbarium belonging to the 1802-3 period, but there is one attributed to 
Hamilton, from Nepal, dated April 10th, 1810. Hamilton, who afterwards 
settled on the ancestral property in Scotland, we know was an ardent cultivator, 
and, as his correspondence shows, very keen to introduce plants from North 
India to his native country. Seeds of the year 1809, would still be on the tree 
when this specimen was collected, and we think it extremely likely that, with 
his horticultural tastes, he did obtain seeds at this date. Allowing 15 years 
for the plant to reach the flowering state, which is probably an average period 
for R. ARBOREUM, this would give us 1825, the year when it first flowered in 
England. 
Wallich, who is so often given the credit of introducing this Rhododendron, 
may have done so, but he wa? not, we think, the to do so. There is no record 
of his having visited any of the natural sites of the typical R. arboreum until 
1819-21, when he visited Nepal, and, as the Kew Herbarium bears witness, 
collected specimens not only of the red type, but also of several varieties such as 
ALBUM, ROSEUM, and one he calls foliis undulatis, with leaves silvery beneath 
and prettily crimped or frilled at the margins. All these were collected between 
March and June, 1821, many on Sheopore Mountain. One also is given as 
“ Ex SiRiNAGUR,” Hardwicke’s original locality, where it was found, so Don 
* Francis Hamilton, formerly Buchanan, of Leny, Callander. Perthshire. Leny 
is now the property of his grandson, John Hamilton Buchanan, chief of the 
clan Buchanan. See " A Sketch of the Life of Fr.\ncis Hamilton” (once 
Buchanap), by Sir David Prain (Calcutta, Bengal Secretariat Press, 1905). 
There are at Leny a number of large rhododendrons of early introduction. - C.C.E. 
178 
