48 RHODORA. 
shining, and of some of the hybrids, which are of 
considerable size. However, the foliage, though 
rich among the good sorts, and very noble on 
well grown, close, bushy, or finely headed plants, 
is not of much importance among the common 
varieties. In an ordinary shrubbery many people 
would seek to plant some of the earliest, and 
many of the hybrid varieties are as early as 
March and April; but the disadvantage of these 
early ones is, the flowers being spoiled by the 
spring frosts, which is almost always the case; 
so that, for choice in planting, we should take 
those which do not bloom before June or the 
end of May. Nothing is more vexing than to 
see a perfectly hardy and handsome plant throw- 
ing out its still more handsome blooms, and a 
frost hardly hard enough to whiten the grass of 
a field, in one night destroying all the flowers 
that are out. The only diversity worth mention- 
ing among the leaves of the rhododendron is, in 
the two variegated kinds,—one the gold-edged, 
the other the silver-edged; these look very well 
in a border or clump, but the flowers are mean. 
The best and handsomest of the ordinary kinds 
are the varieties of 2. catawbiense, for the foliage 
is good, the habit fine and close, the flowers 
varied from white, or nearly so, to dark rose and 
dark purple, and all the grades between them.” 
Yet almost equal] to these for general purposes 
of decoration, and quite superior to them for par- 
ticular purposes or in particular situations, are 
R. alta-clerense, a magnificent, crimson-flowered 
hybrid of 15 feet in height, produced in 1827,— 
many of the other hybrids which cannot be as- 
signed to species,—and some of the most select 
varieties of 2. maximum, R. arboreum, and R. 
ponticunr. . 
RHODORA. An ornamental, deciduous, hardy, 
calyciflorous shrub, of the heath order. It 
constitutes a genus of itself, and is specifically 
called canadense or the Canadian; yet it forms 
the type of a large and most imposing tribe, com- 
prising the rhododendrons, the azaleas, the kal- 
mias, the ledums, and five other genera. It isa 
native of Canada, and was introduced to Britain 
about 80 years ago. It has commonly a height 
of about 3 or 4 feet; and it carries purple flowers 
in April and May. 
RHUBARB,—botanically Rheum. A genus of 
hardy, exotic, tap-rooted, medicinal, and culi- 
nary plants, of the polygonum family. About 15 
species have been introduced to Britain from 
western and south-western and central and east- 
ern Asia, and from Austria and Bucharia and 
European Turkey; and they vary in height from 
2 or 3 to 10 feet, and, for the most part, carry 
white or whitish-green flowers in May and June. 
Five or six are cultivated for sake of the medi- 
cinal properties of their roots; and most of these, 
as well as all the rest, have acidulous, esculent 
stems, which are used for tarts or in some other 
and similar culinary way. But the best medi- 
cinal roots are obtained from the three spe- 
RHUBARB. 
cies, Lt. palmatum, a native of Bucharia, intro- 
duced to Britain in 1763,—. undulatum, a na- 
tive of China, introduced to Britain in 1734,— 
and Ff. australe, a native of Nepaul, introduced 
to Britain in 1823; and the best esculent stems, 
or rather the only ones which the present state 
of British horticulture will admit to be tolerable, 
are produced by British hybrids of comparatively 
recent origin. 
The rhapontic rhubarb, [theum rhaponticum, 
was introduced to Britain about 127 years before 
any other species, and became so early and gene- . 
rally diffused, and at the same time became so 
permanently predominant as to take the name of 
English rhubarb. A brief notice of this species 
will convey a sufficient idea of the general ap- 
pearance of the whole genus. It is a native of 
the parts of Asia which border on the Black Sea. 
The root is large and thick, and sends down 
many subdivisions deep into the ground, and is 
interiorly yellow and exteriorly of a reddish 
brown colour. Several leaves, varying in num- 
ber according to the size and strength of the 
root, come up foldedly from the root-crown in 
spring, and afterwards expand themselves; they 
are smooth, and roundish heart-shaped, and a 
little waved on their edges, and have a deep 
green colour, and are traversed from the foot- 
stalks to the borders by several strong longitudi- 
nal veins, and, on good soil, are often two feet in 
diameter. The footstalks have a reddish colour, 
and are a little channelled on their lower side, 
but flat at the top, and, on strong or even mid- 
dle-rate plants, are nearly two feet long and 
thicker than a man’s thumb. ‘The flower-stem 
rises from among the leaves, and has a purple 
colour, and is garnished at each joint with one 
sessile leaf, of the same shape as the radical 
leaves, but comparatively small. The flowers 
form a thick, close, obtuse spike at the top of 
the flower-stem, and have a white or greenish 
white colour, and bloom in May and June, and 
are succeeded by large triangular brown seeds, 
which have a border or wing at each angle, and 
ripen in August. 
The red Goliah rhubarb is one of the best of 
the hybrids for culinary purposes, and as superior 
to the old harsh, dock-like rhubarbs which were 
generally prevalent even 10 or 11 years ago as 
our cultivated celery is superior to the rank weed 
of the same name which grows by muddy ditches. 
It is as easily propagated as any other perennial 
vegetable ; and so hardy as to resist the frosts 
and vicissitudes of our severest seasons; and of 
all esculents for pies and tarts and puddings, it 
is the most easily prepared. It is so prolific, 
too, that half a dozen roots would keep a small 
family constantly supplied, during 4 months of 
the year, that is, from the beginning or middle 
of April, according to the forwardness or back- 
wardness of the season, until the beginning or 
middle of August; and it is sometimes preferred 
to all other vegetable substances for the purpose 
