Cbe Btotiobenbron ^ocietp 
of surprise and reproach have several times been made. The last (and kindest) 
is in Mr. Millais’ great book on Rhododendrons. Yet what I said on the plants 
which were then purported to be R. decorum was strictly true. Fortunately, 
from my point of view, the old so-called “ decorum ” of Paris in 1889 proves 
to be a distinct species which has been named R. serotinum by Mr. Hutchinson, 
and is to be figured under that name in the Botanical Magazine. 
R. SEROTINUM is no doubt closely allied to both decorum and Fortunei. 
From the latter it differs by its pubescent stamens ; from R. decorum it is 
distinguished by having larger, thicker leaves with an unequally cordate base, 
and by the corolla having conspicuous stalked glands on the outside. From 
both species it differs in the gaunt, lanky mode of grovdh already alluded to, and 
by the tube of the corolla being spotted and suffused with red inside. It is also 
distinct in flowering very late in the season, the character on w'hich Mr. 
Hutchinson’s name is based. In the Temperate House at Kew it commences 
to blossom in July, and last year there were trusses opening in late September, 
developed of course from flower buds which had formed on the growths of 1917. 
The flowers are seven or eight together, each one about 3 inches wide, fragrant, 
white tinged with rose and spotted in the tube as mentioned above. 
R. DECORUM, Franchet. 
\syn. R. Spooneri, Hemsley and Wilson^. 
David, the French missionary in China, appears to have been the first to 
discover this fine Rhododendron in the early “ eighties ” of last centuiyq in 
Eastern Thibet, at elevations of about 10,000 feet on the mountains, but it was 
also found about the same time, or soon after, in Yunnan by his feUow'-worker, 
Delavay. As has been shown in the note on R. serotinum, some at any rate 
of the plants originally raised from seeds sent to Paris by the French missionaries 
and distributed as decorum, are now to be regarded as a distinct species, so that 
the introduction of all, or nearly all, the plants in cultivation has to be credited 
to Wilson and Forrest. Wilson sent seeds home to Messrs. Veitch from Yunnan, 
in 1904-5, and made'several other importations during his subsequent joume 5 "s. 
The plants obtained by him and Forrest have proved very attractive to Rhodo¬ 
dendron lovers in this country. The flowering season of R. decorum seems 
naturally to be a rather extended one. I have flowering specimens preserved 
that have been collected during the months of May, June and July. The flow^ers 
sometimes open early enough to be caught by frost. They usually measure 
2| to 3 inches across, and I have a few flowers gathered at Caerhaj'^s in Juljq 
1911, almost 4 inches wide. The colour varies from almost pure white to a veiy' 
lovely delicate pink. From R. Fortunei this differs botanically in the dowmy 
stamens and in the tapered base of the leaf. 
R. auriculatum, Hemsley. 
Among all the Rhododendrons introduced from Central and Western China, 
none stands out with greater distinctness than this. No other cultivated 
Rhododendron so far as I know habitually starts into growth so late in the 
192 
