BRIGHAM YOl^'^^ .WIV usi PROVO, cT II Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Brigham Young University http://www.archive.org/details/monographofazaleOOwils A MONOGEAPH OF AZALEAS PUBLICATIONS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM, No. 9 A MONOGRAPH OF AZALEAS RHODODENDRON SUBGENUS ANTHODENDRON BY ERNEST HENRY WILSON AND ALFRED REHDER ISSUED APRIL 15, 1921 Printed from the Income of the William L. Bradlet Fvkd BY \ THE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE 1921 Lithoprinted in U.S.A. EDWARDS BROTHERS, INC ANN ARBOR, MFCHIGAN 1942 THE LIBRARY BRIGHAM YOUiNG I NIVERSITY PROVO, LTAH PREFACE The value of Azaleas as garden plants in the eastern United States, where few of the Rhododendrons with persistent leaves can be successfully cultivated, has led to the critical studies of these plants which appear on the following pages. Mr. Wilson's long journeys in eastern Asia has made it pos- sible for him to study all the species of the Japanese Empire and China as wild plants, and to become familiar with the Azaleas growing in Japanese gardens. For many years the Arboretum has been engaged in a field study of the American species, and has been able to place at Mr. Rehder's disposal the large amount of material which is preserved in this her- barium, and which has been supplemented by that contained in other American collections. The Azaleas of northern Japan and Korea, and of the northern United States, are already growing in the Arboretum, but the gardens of the southern states and of California have still much to gain by the introduction of the species of the southern states and those of southern Japan, China, and Formosa, and this publication will not have accomplished its purpose if it fails to induce the more general cultivation of these plants in the United States and Europe. The art of the hybridizer has produced many interesting and beautiful Azaleas. Imperfect records have made the study of many of these hybrids difficult and uncertain, and this difficulty is increased by the fact that many of them are no longer culti- vated unless, having escaped the change of fashion in plants, they are still growing in English gardens, planted about the middle of the last century, and I venture to suggest to my associates in the English Rhododendron Society that the study of Azaleas in European gardens might add much to the knowl- edge of the origin and value of many of these plants. C. S. Sargent, Director, Arnold Arboretum March, 1921. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Preface v The Azaleas of the Old World. By Ernest Henry Wilson . 1 The Azaleas of North America. By Alfred Rehder .... 107 Doubtful Names 197 Illustrations 203 Additions 206 Index 207 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD BY ERNEST HENRY WILSON THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD INTRODUCTION Botanists may hold dijfferent views on the classification of the subdivisions of the large genus Rhododendron, but garden- ers and lovers of plants in general have no difficulty in recog- nizing Azaleas as distinct from other groups of the genus. It is in the popular rather than in the strictly technical sense that the title of ''Azaleas of the Old World'' is applied here. These plants with few exceptions are sun-loving; and their wide popu- larity among the peoples of the Orient, of America, of Europe and Australia is due largely to the brilliancy of their flowers, their floriferousness and the ease with which many of them can be cultivated. In the Orient they have been favorite garden flowers from very early times and in the Occident for more than a century some have been familiar and valued greenhouse plants, and in recent years it has been found that several are more hardy than they were generally supposed to be. In the Arnold Arboretum such hardy kinds as R, obtusum var. Kaempferi and R. japonicum are among the most satisfactory and most beau- tiful of Asiatic plants. Farther south and in California the old Azalea amoena and A. ledifolia and the newer ''Hinodegiri" are much grown in gardens. Others are less known, but I believe that in the near future both in increased variety and in quantity Azaleas will have a much more important place in gardens. In certain groups the hybridists in Europe have wrought wonder- ful results, and the field is still full of promise. In Japan, in the city of Kurume, selection and raising from seed has been in progress among a single group for a century, and these plants are no^ beginning to find their way into the Occident. With these facts in view the need for a critical survey of the species and forms seems necessary. Through confusion with other species and for lack of accurate names many good plants have become lost from our gardens, and others for the same reason have not been introduced. During my travels in China I greatly admired 1 2 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD the red-flowered Azalea of the country so abundant on the hills from the coast to the extreme west, from near sea-level to 1300 m. altitude. So common is it that in May much of the country- side is a blaze of red. For years I unhesitatingly accepted this plant as the Azalea indica of Linnaeus, considering the differ- ence in the number of stamens an unimportant triviality. In 1912-13, when working up the Rhododendron material for Sar- gent's Plantae Wilsonianae in conjunction with my colleague, Alfred Rehder, I became conscious that all was not so simple as I had assumed. The question as to what Azalea indica really was began to arouse my interest. On the occasion of the Arnold Arboretum Expedition to Japan in 1914 I devoted much time to the problem, and in Yaku-shima in February collected an Azalea which later I discovered to be the true Azalea indica of Linnaeus. I questioned many botanists in Japan, but none at that time had any definite views on the subject. Nevertheless, by deduction and comparative study I arrived at the conclusion that the group of Azaleas cultivated in Japan under the name '^Satsuki'' all belonged to Linnaeus' species and that the ma- terial collected in Yaku-shima was its wild parent. On my re- turn to the Arnold Arboretum early in 1915 I critically com- pared the material I had collected with Linnaeus' description and with the old figures on which his species was based, and the proof of this theory was absolute. Japan is so rich in Azaleas, both wild on the mountains and cultivated in gardens, parks and temple grounds, that at the end of 1914 I felt that beyond establishing the identity of Azalea indica I had acquired no more than a moderate working knowledge of the group. My interest, however, was keener than ever. Being favored with another opportunity to visit the Orient I determined to devote as much time as possible to the study of these Azaleas. During 1917 and 1918 I visited many places famous in Japan for Azaleas and gathered specimens and information from all sides. On my visits to Korea, Liukiu and Formosa I collected much new material. The result is that on my various visits to the Chinese and Japanese Empires I have seen growing wild, with few exceptions, every species known from those regions and almost every known variety and garden form. In Japan in 1914 and again in 1917-18 I received in- estimable assistance from Mr. H. Suzuki, President of the INTRODUCTION 6 Yokohama Nursery Company and one of the foremost horticul- turists in Japan. Together we visited Mt. Kirishima and the famous Azalea district of Kurume in Kyushu, also those near Osaka and Tokyo. He introduced me to all the leading special- ists, gave of his own store of knowledge freely, and without his help it would have been quite impossible to have delved so deeply into the cultivated Azaleas of Japan. It is with keen pleasure that I acknowledge my indebtedness to this genial and scholarly gentleman. I know not how many hundreds of speci- mens of my own collecting have been available for this work, and in addition, through the courtesy of the Director of Kew and the Keeper of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, I have had on loan all their material, so rich in old types of these Azaleas. In Tokyo, through the courtesy of Professor J. Matsu- mura, I have examined the material preserved in the Herbarium of the Imperial Botanic Garden. Dr. Merrill has kindly loaned me the material preserved in the Herbarium of the Bureau of Science, Manila. To Dr. T. Nakai I am indebted for much useful information relative to certain critical Azaleas to which S. Komatsu has recently given names with brief descriptive notes in Japanese. The study of long-cultivated garden plants is exceedingly complex, and to fathom some of the problems is almost beyond human skill. This statement is as trite as it is true, and I freely confess that I have found the problems presented by many of these Azaleas more intricate than those of the Japanese Cherries. Notwithstanding my unusual opportunities in the field and in the gardens of the Orient and the abundant herbarium material at my command I should have been ill equipped for the task but for the collection of living plants cultivated for nearly three- quarters of a century on the Sargent estate in Brookline, Mass. This collection has been zealously maintained and is rich in old garden types introduced through Fortune and others, some of which have apparently been lost in Europe. Professor Sargent's knowledge of these Azaleas is profound, and it is under his sym- pathetic guidance and help that this little treatise has developed from chaos to order, and to him most largely is due what merit it contains. HISTORY The cultivation of plants and the development of gardens is ever a sign of a nation's advance toward culture and refinement. How early this art began in the Orient we do not know, though history tells us that plants like the Yulan and Moutan Paeony were highly esteemed garden flowers among the Chinese during the Tang Dynasty (618- 907 A. D.). It is much to be regretted that we are so ignorant of the early history of China. It is known that during the Han Dynasty (B. C. 206-A. D. 25) the Chinese had intercourse with India and Zan- zibar. If proof were needed of their visiting these countries at an early period it is supplied by the presence in south China and Formosa of such typical African plants as Cactus-like Tree Euphorbias. Such species sls E, triangylaris Desf., E. neriifolia L. and E. tirucalli L. are common hedge-plants and are naturalised in certain places like Hong- kong, Kowloon and elsewhere in China, and near Takao in Formosa, as they also are in parts of India. In point of fact E, tirucalli was named by Linnaeus from material which came from India. Did we know more about the early travels of the Chinese it is possible that we should finfl that they were acquainted with America long before its discovery by Columbus. In south China, Formosa and the Liukiu Islands Agave fourcroydes Lem. is naturalised, but this may have been introduced by the Portuguese, and so too may have been Maize and Tobacco. Much more difficult is it to accoimt for Opuntia Dillenii Haw. naturalised and abundant not only on the Yunnan plateaux but in the valley of the Timg River in a remote part of extreme western China. It is significant also that Boym in his Flora Sinensis published in 1656 figures such characteristic American plants as the Pineapple {Anarms sativa Schult. f.), the Sweetsop or Custard Apple {Anona 9quamosa L.) and the Guava (Psidium guajava L.), which were evi- dently common plants in China when he was there (1642-53). In what era the love for flowers began to manifest itself in Japan is un- certain, but Buddhism in its Chinese form was introduced from Korea about 552 A. D. and from then until the 8th centurj'^ Korean and Chinese monks and nuns visited Japan for purposes of proselytism. From the 8th century onward it became more usual for the Japanese 4 HISTORY 5 monks to go to China in order to study the doctrines of the best ac- credited teachers at the fountain-head. These monks introduced into Japan a number of favorite trees and shrubs like the Ginkgo, Yulan, Moutan Paeony, Chinese Quince, the Tea-plant, Buddha^s Tree (Tilia Miqaeliana)j Sophora japonica, Prunus tomentosa, P. japonica^ Paulownia tomentosa, such fruit trees as the Peach, Apricot, Persimmon, Pear, Apple, Plum, Cherry, Loquat', the Orange and its relatives and, in all probability, the Chrysanthemum also. Though they probably did not originate the love for gardens these monks must have greatly stimu- lated it. The mutual love of flowers among the peoples of the Orient induced and fostered the introduction of plants from one country to another in the Far East even as it did in the Levant and, in later days, as it has in the Occident. And so we find the history of garden plants intimately associated with the social life of the peoples. We know nothing of early intercourse between the Japanese and Chinese prior to the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. We do know that Chinese monks introduced their favorite flowers to Korea, that Chinese and Korean monks carried them to Japan, and it is safe to assume that these same monks and their Japanese disciples carried to Korea and to China plants of Japan which appealed to their aesthetic sense. In fact the presence in temple-grounds and other sacred places in China of the Cryptomeria, which is endemic in Japan, and of many varieties of Japanese Camellias and Azaleas in Chinese gardens, is positive proof that Japanese plants were long ago introduced into China. The illustrious Venetian, Marco Polo, who lived many years in China during the latter part of the 12th century and to whom we owe the first authentic account of that mighty empire, notices from his own observation many of the vegetable productions of China used for economic purposes. After his memorable travels China was for a long time closed to European access and had been altogether forgotten in Europe when in 1516 the Portuguese first arrived in China. The Portuguese claim the honor of having first introduced the Sweet- Orange from China to Portugal some time between 1545 and 1548. About the end of 1542 tKe Portuguese adventurer, Mendez Pinto, discovered Japan, first touching at the island now known as Tanaga- shima south of Kagoshima in Kyushu. The Portuguese made their way north as far as Oita in northeast Kyushu where Mendez Pinto in 1543 received a friendly reception from the local Daimyo. The arquebus Pinto carried astounded the Japanese, who had never before seen any explosive weapon. In 1549 St. Francis Xavier reached Japan 6 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD and introduced Christianity; he visited Oita, and going north to Hondo established a mission at Yamaguchi, a few miles north of Shimonoseki. This newly introduced religion soon claimed thousands of adherents, much to the alarm of the Japanese Daimyos and military men backed by Buddhist priests, and a period of persecution commenced. The native Christians migrated to Nagasaki, which soon became one of the chief marts of Portuguese trade. In 1596 the Dutch first visited Java and other islands of the East Indies and in 1602 the Dutch East India Company was established. The war which then ensued between the Dutch, Spaniard and Portu- guese for possession of the spice islands lasted until 1610 when the Dutch remained master of these seas. The seat of the Dutch govern- ment was first established on the island of Amboyna, but in 1619 it was transferred to the newly founded city of Batavia in Java. In 1600 a Dutch ship visited Japan, and nine years later the Dutch East India Company sent several vessels to Firando (Hirado), northwest of Naga- saki, where they were well received by the Japanese. In 1611 a formal edict in favor of their trade was obtained. A Dutch factory and also an English factory were established at Hirado the same year. In 1624 Christianity was proscribed in Japan and the land was closed to foreigners. The Portuguese, English and Spaniards, who also had a factory, were expelled and only the Dutch and the Chinese were permitted to carry on trade, and that under galling restrictions. The Dutch factory was removed in 1639 to Deshima, then an islet at the head of Nagasaki harbor but now absorbed into the foreshore. And so Japan secluded herself for over two centuries from contact with the outer world until the advent of the American Expedition in 1853-54 under conmiand of Commodore Perry. All this may seem to have little to do with plants and with Azaleas in particular and yet they are inextricably bound up with the subject. It is to the merchant adventurer that we owe all our first plant introductions from Japan and our early knowledge of the flora. From 1690-92 Engelbert Kaempfer, in the service of the Dutch East India Company, lived in Japan, and in his Amoenitates ExoticaCf published in 1712, he gives an admirable account of Japanese plants. He gives good figures of many of these imder the vernacular names and among them an Azalea now known as R, ohtusum var. Kaempferi Wils. In all Kaempfer mentions twenty-one Azaleas, and it is interesting to note that many of the vernacular names he gives are in common use to-day. C. P. Thunberg in 1775 visited Japan in the capacity of physician to the Dutch Com- HISTORY 7 pany and in 1784 published his Flora Japonicaf the first post-Linnaean work on the flora of the Orient. Thunberg mentions the Azaleas under their vernacular names and relegates them all to Azalea indica. Ac- cording to Juel {PL Thunh, 391 (1918)) they represent R, ohtiLSum Planch., R. japonicum Suring. and R. mucronaium G. Don. Lastly in this connection mention must be made of Philipp von Sie- bold, who joined the service of the Dutch East India Company and lived at Deshima from 1823 to 1829. To him we owe the magnificent Flora Japonica; also he introduced about 1830 such ornamental plants as Lilium elegans and L. speciosum from Japanese gardens, and, twenty years later, several others including Malua floribunda, M, Sieholdii and certain flowering Cherries. About 1677 the English East India Company established a factory at Amoy and in 1684, after a conflict with the Portuguese, one at Canton. Through this company many Chinese plants were introduced to India diuing the 18th century and early in the 19th century to England; they include several Azaleas. However, in China the Jesuit priests were the first to inform us about the flora of the land. In 1790 Joannis de Loureiro, a Portuguese, published his Flora Cochinchinensis and mentions one species of Azalea (A. punctata) , but this remains an obscure plant and may not belong to the genus. During the last quarter of the 17th century Jakob Breyne, a merchant of Danzig and a distinguished botanist, visited Holland and saw growing there several famous garden plants of the Orient which he duly records in his Prodromus Plantarum. On page 24, pt. I, pub- lished in 1680, we read ''Chamaerhododendron exoticum amplissimus floribus liliaceis. Frutex spectabilis elegans. In horto Beveringiano." This is the plant on which Linnaeus (Spec. 1753) bases his Azalea indica, Breyne does not say from what country this shrub had been brought, but P. Hermann, in his Academid Horti lugduno-batavi catalogv>8, p. 152 (1687), describes the same plant under the name of "Cistus Indicus Ledi alpini foliis, floribus amplis," figures it on page 153, and reports that it was introduced from Jaccatra, which is Ba- tavia, in Java. No species of Azalea grows in India, and it has been generally supposed that this Azalea had been brought to Batavia by the Chinese, but I am of the opinion that it Was taken there from Japan by Dutch traders. In the gardens of Nagasaki and elsewhere, then as now, it was a common garden plant and, moreover, it is indigenous in the warm southern parts of Japan. That at the early date men- tioned plants from Japan were growing in gardens in Holland is certain, 8 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD and the Tea-plant was introduced from Japan about 1689. Brejoie {ProdromuSy I. 4) states that he saw in the garden of Hieronymus van Beverningk in 1678 a fine specimen of the Camphor-tree which had been introduced from Japan. Again, in his ProdromuSy II. 66 (1689) Breyne tells of six varieties of Chrysanthemum from Japan which he saw growing in Holland gardens. All these early introductions seem to have been lost. I have carefully looked through many old books of the 18th century and I find no references to any species of Azaleas being in European gardens, and they appear to have been unknown in Europe at the close of the 18th century. The one oriental species was known to Linnaeus through the books. In Batavia, however, several were grown, as we know from the writings of Burmann and Blume. In Aiton's Hortus Kewensis (1810) Azalea indica is stated to be in cultivation in Kew, having been introduced from China in 1808 by the Court of Directors of the East India Company in the ship "Cuffnels" Captain Wellbank. This plant was Rhododendron Simsii Planch., and here began a confusjon between Linnaeus^ species and the Chinese Azalea which still survives. Through the activities of officers of the East India Company at the close of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries English gardens were enriched by many Chinese plants. No officer was more active in this work than John Reeves, who as Chief Inspector of Tea in the Company's establishment at Canton resided in Macao and Canton from 1812 to 1831. He was either the immediate or indirect source from which our gardens derived Camel- lias, Moutan Paeonies, Chrysanthemums, Roses, Wistaria sinensis and many Chinese Azaleas including R, Farrerae Tate, a pretty Hong- kong species, and also R. phoeniceum G. Don, destined to be of so much value as a stock on which to graft " Indian Azaleas, '^ so called. In 1818 or 1819 Samuel Brooks, a nurseryman at BalPs Pond, New- ington Green, sent out to China Joseph Poole, a gardener, and through him secured among other plants Azalea indica aXba {R. mucronatum G. Don) and Azalea indica purpurea plena (R, mucronatum f. plenum Wils.). In 1823 Azalea sinensis (R, molU G. Don) was received from China by Loddiges of Hackney and by William Wells, nurseryman, of Redleaf. In 1832 Joseph Knight, nurseryman, of Chelsea, London, secured Azalea indica variegata {R, indicum f. variegatum DC.) and A. indica lateritia {R. indicum. Sweet) brought home from China by Mr. M'Killigan. In 1821 Rhododendron Farrerae was reintroduced and in 1832 R, indicum var. ignescens Sweet, both through Captain Farrer of the East Indiaman ''Or^^eU/' who gave HISTORY 9 them to Tate, a nurseryman, of Sloane Square, London. In the Botanr ical Register, t. 66 (1842), is figured a double red-flowered Azalea said to be of Chinese origin and in the possession of William Wells, Esq., of Redleaf . These various Azaleas by hybridization and selection soon became the parents of a number of good plants which are figured in the periodicals of the time. Especially valuable was the Azalea indica fturiegata which in the hands of Knight, and of Ivery, another English nurseryman, yielded several very ornamental varieties. In 1843 Robert Fortune was sent to China by the Horticultural Society of London, and his travels and explorations there, which ended in 1861, inaugurated a new era in the history of plant introduction from that country. He sent from Chinese gardens at Shanghai and elsewhere to England many Azaleas, including such new ones as Aza- lea obtiisa (R, ohtusum Planch.), Azalea ramentacea (R. ohtusum f. alhum Rehder), Azalea crispiflora (R. indicum var. crispiflorum Schneid.), Azalea amoena (R. ohtusum f. amoenum Wils.), Azalea narcissiflora (R, mucronatum f. nardssiflorum Wils.), Azalea vit- tata (R, Simsii var. vittata Wils.) and Azalea Bealii (R. Simsii var. vittata f. Bealii Wils.). There is no need to emphasize the value of these new Azaleas. His vittata with hlac flowers and Bealii with red-striped flowers gave an impetus to the raising of new forms and may be said to have initiated an industry which has resulted in the so- called race of " Indian Azaleas." The true R. indicum^ whose progeny are not amenable to forcing, dropped out and the forms of R, Simsii,, R, mucTonaium and R, ohtusum — seminal, branch sports and hybrids — took its place, and to these we owe the familiar greenhouse Azaleas of to-day. There is no necessity for pursuing the subject further except to point out that all the Azaleas from the Orient up to 1860 were cultivated plants introduced from gardens and that the wild parent and habitat of none except R, Farrerae and R, molle were known. The opening of Japan, which fallowed the signing of treaties first with America in 1854 and then with other powers, soon led to the introduction of a great number of valuable garden plants to America and Europe. Strange to say the Azaleas for which Japan is famous seem to have been passed over for a number of years, probably on the assumption that they were the same as those already introduced to our gardens from China. From 1859-64 C. Maximowicz, the famous Russian botanist, travelled in Japan, and to him we owe our first com- prehensive account of the wild flora of that country. Maximowicz and his Japanese collector, Tschonoski, were among the first to collect 10 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD seeds of Azaleas and by this means introduced into Petrograd R, reticulatum G. Don and R, linearifolium var. macrosepalum Mak. M^ximowicz also introduced plants of R. linearifolium S. & Z., its variety macrosepalum and R. scahrum G. Don. In 1861 a Hollander, J. B. Groenwegen, claims to have received direct from Japan seeds of R. japonicum Suring., one of the most valuable of all hardy Azaleas. Crossed with the Chinese R. wMe G. Don this has given rise to the lovely but short-lived Kosterianum hybrids; all these, again mixed with the so-called Ghent hybrids (Jt. luteum X American species), have produced the race of Azaleas named X R. mixtum Wils. Under each species and variety the story of its introduction Is re- corded, so in this historical chapter I need not repeat it. Curiously enough the most common and one of the most conspicuously beau- tiful Azaleas of Japan, with flame-red flowers and figured by Kaempfer, was ignored until 1892, when Professor Sargent sent seeds -to the Arnold Arboretum where it has proved not only perfectly hardy but one of the most valuable exotic plants. This and R, japonicum, raised by Professor Sargent from seeds sent from the Jardin des Plantes in 1876, were the first oriental Azaleas to be raised from seeds in America. Turning to Korea there is little to say, for prior to the beginning of this century the Occident had received no living plants or seeds direct from that country. A common Azalea of Korea, the lovely R. Schlip^ penbachii Maxim., found its way to Japan, and from there was sent to England by James H. Veitch in 1893. The first seeds of an Azalea sent from Korea was in 1905 when Mr. J. G. Jack sent to the Arnold Arboretum seeds of R, yedoense var. poukhanense Nakai, a hardy species of compact habit with rose-purple, fragrant flowers. From the Liukiu Islands no Azaleas, either plants or seeds, have been sent direct to the Occident, but the large-flowered R. scahrum G. Don, better known as R, sublanceolatum Miq., endemic there, was long ago brought to Japan, and in Kyushu in particular it is a common garden plant. This Azalea was apparently in cultivation in England when G. Don wrote his General System in 1834, but seems to have been lost soon afterward. Maximowicz in 1,864 sent it to Petrograd, but it ap- pears to have been unknown in England when reintroduced by Mr. Notcutt in 1911. The only Formosan Azalea introduced into Europe prior to my visit in 1918 was R, Oldhamii Maxim, which was raised by Messers Veitch from seeds sent in 1878 by Charles Maries. The Philippine Island species has not yet been introduced. DISTRIBUTION Op the thirty-four species of Azaleas enumerated here thirty-three are widely scattered over the countries of the Orient having their northern limit in central Hokkaido^ their southern on Luzon in the Philippines; from east to west they are found from the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Japan to the extreme west of China proper. They belong to four well-marked sections of the genus Rhododendron, two of which (Tsutsutsi and Sciadorhodion) are peculiar to the Orient; two (Rhodora and Pentanthera) are represented also in America. The thirty-fourth species is R. luteum Sweet which belongs to the last- named section. It grows in the Caucasus, the Pontus region of the Black Sea and in Lithuania, Poland, and southwestern Russia, and is the only species of the groups here discussed known to grow west of China proper. Geographically the east Asiatic species are found over 45 degrees of longitude and 30 degrees of latitude and altitudinally from sea-level to about 3300 m. They are social plants and where climate and soil conditions are favorable, as in most parts of Japan, of Korea and of China from about the latitude of Shanghai south, these Azaleas are perhaps the most common shrubs. The Chinese R, Simsii and R. Ma- riesii grow also in Formosa, and a variety of the first-named is endemic on the Kawanabe Islands off the northwest coast of the Liukiu Archi- pelago. The Japanese R, serpyllifolium is said to grow on Okinawa, the main island of the Liukius. At least three {R. Schlippenbachiif R, Tachonoskii and R, Weyrichii) of the four Korean species grow also in Japan. One (R. phoeniceum) is unknown in a wild state and is of doubtful standing. The others are endemic in the different countries of the Orient. It is remarkable that in western China only the section Tsutstitsi with three species is represented, and on the Himalayas no member of the four sections is known to grow, yet in these two regions the sub- genus Eurhododendron has its headquarters and is represented by hundreds of species. In Malaysia, too, where the subgenus Vireya is so richly represented, no species of our subgenus is known. The great concentration of species is in Japan. Formosa, considering its small 11 12 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD size, is also rich in Azaleas. In China these Azaleas are poorly repre- sented by eight species of which only three are really common and widespread. This is singular in view of the remarkable richness of the Chinese flora in general. In Korea four species grow, but at most only one (R. yedoense var. poukhanense) is endemic and specimens of an Azalea much like this have been collected in Bitchu province, western Japan. In Japan Azaleas reach their northern limits in central Hokkaido, where R. Tschonoskiiy R, Alhrechtiif R, ohtusvm var. Kaempferi and R. reticulatum are found. The marked absence of limestone in Japan is favorable to the family Ericaceae which is richly represented there, and on the volcanic mountains Azaleas are astonishingly abundant* The small-flowered R, ohtusuTJif the wild type of which is the form japonicum, is local, being confined to Kiri- shima and to a few other moimtains in Kjoishu, but the large-flowered variety Kaempferi grows in plenty from the extreme south, northward to central Hokkaido. The same is true of the magenta-flowered R. reti- culatum. Billions of plants of these two species are scattered on the grass and shrub-clad slopes, in thickets, in thin woods and on the margins of forests. In May from Kynshu to central Hondo travelling by train or along the roads one is never out of sight of the blossoms of these Azaleas; in June the same is true for the north until their limit of distribution is reached. Many districts are famous for their Azaleas, and of these I may mention the slopes of Mt. Fuji, the Hakone moun- tains and the Nikko region. In Yamato province, and also round Fuji and Nikko R. japonicum with its clusters of large flame-colored flowers grows in millions. Indeed it is to her Azaleas that Japan owes much for the color which decks her countryside. And what joy it is to ramble through this flower-clad land in spring and early summer. In autumn the leaves of such species as R. japonicum, R. Tschonoskii, R. reticulatumy R, quinquefolium, R. pentaphyllum and R. linearifolium change to rich shades of yellow, orange, crimson and vinous purple. These autumn tints, like the wealth of brilliantly colored flowers in spring and early summer, arrest attention on every side, and small wonder that the Japanese have taken Azaleas into their gardens, parks and temple grounds and cultivated them from time immemorial. The only truly woodland species are R. quinquefolium and R. pentaphyllum, but so adaptable to different conditions are R, reticulatum and R, ob- tv^um var. Kaempferi that they too may be considered woodland plants. In dark ravines, by the sides of torrents and in the forests of the Nikko region R. quinquefolium is plentiful, lighting up the dark and DISTRIBUTION 13 solemn depths with its snow-white, almost bell-shaped flowers. Crown- ing a knoll among mixed trees round the Hashimoto Tea House at Chuzenji and high up on the steep, wooded slope behind the Lakeside Hotel near the same place R. pentaphyllum is common, and I shall never forget the day in June, 1914, when I first beheld these bushes covered with masses of bright rose-pink blossoms. These two may be classed as small trees and among the Azaleas of eastern Asia are only approached in size by the pink-flowered R, Schlippenhachii, R, Tschonoskii has the smallest flowers of any species of Azalea and, indeed, in this respect is only approached by the Chinese R, Seniavinii, But in size of plant the real dwarf species is R. serpyllifoliumj which is common in the Idzu province, and is also known from Mt. Unzen near Nagasaki, and from Okinawa in the Liukiu Archipelago. Yet individual plants of R. ohiusum f . japonicum at alpine limits of vege- tation are equally dwarf. By the sides of rock-strewn torrents high up on mountains on Yaku-shima Island R. indicunty the first-known of all Asiatic Azaleas, forms dense thickets more than a metre high, but in the gardens of Japan it is a dwarf and hugs the ground closely. The lovely R. mu- cronatum with its pure white, fragrant flowers has not been found wild though its pale purple-flowered variety ripense is common by the sides of certain rivers in the island of Shikoku. The pink to rose-colored R. linearifolium var. macrosepalum with sticky leaves and flower-buds and an extraordinarily variable and glandular calyx is abundant in thin Pine-woods and among scrub round Futagawa, Yoshino and near Osaka. Very remarkable is the distribution of the red-flowered R. Weyrichiiy which is known only from parts of Shikoku in the east, from the Goto Islands in the Japan Sea, and from the island of Quel- paert off the south of Korea. The small-leafed R. tosaense is confined to parts of the island of Shikoku, and R, Schlippenhachiij which is really a Korean species, grows sparingly on Chokai-san and one or two other mountains in northern Hondo. The slender-branched R, Al- brechtii grows in thickets and on the margins of forests from the Nikko region northward to central Hokkaido, but is nowhere really common. On the foot-hills of Adzuma-yama the remarkable R. nipponicum^ with its campanulate white corolla, shreddy, cinnamon-brown bark and fragile fruit, is common in open grass and scrub-clad country, but is not known elsewhere. On Mt. Kirishima in Kyushu R. ohtumm f . japonicum grows under alpine conditions, but the most truly alpine species of east Asiatic Azaleas is R, Tschonoskii^ widespread in Japan 14 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD on high mountains from Shikoku and central Hondo north to central Hokkaido, and in Korea found on the summit of the Chiri-san. All in all the most widely spread, most variable, most spectacularly beautiful and most useful of the red-flowered Japanese Azaleas is R. ohtitsum and its variety Kaempferi, In Korea, from Chiri-san in the extreme south of the peninsula to fifty miles north of Gensan, grows R, Schlippenhachii, It is partial to rocky .places and thickets and often in thin woods it is the dominant undergrowth. On the famous Diamond Mountains in northeastern Korea it is particularly plentiful in mixed, rather open woods and on cliffs; in early simimer its myriads of blossoms literally form sheets of pure pink for miles and miles. On exposed cliffs the habit is stiff and sturdy, but in the shade of trees the branches are slender. On Chiri- san it is usually a tree-like bush, four metres tall, and it is on this mountain range that this Azalea reaches its maximum size. On bare, grass-clad and shrub-clad slopes and in Pine-woods from the latitude of Seoul southward to the island of Quelpaert R. yedoense var. pouk- hanense abounds. In full exposure it often forms low mats several yards wide, but among shrubs it is occasionally 1.5 m. tall. This and R, Weyrichii are the only species that grow on Quelpaert, and the last-named is unknown on the mainland of Korea. In China the red-flowered R, Simsii is wild from the coast to the extreme west, the valley of the Yangtsze River being the northern limit of its range. In many places it is extraordinarily abundant, and in May whole hillsides are red with its flowers. This species is wild in the extreme south of Formosa, and a well-marked variety {eriocarpum) is endemic on the Kawanabe Islands off northern Liukiu. This is the only Chinese species known to grow wild outside of China proper, but phylogenetically it and R» ohPusum may be considered of common origin, and to these China and Japan owe the wealth of brilliant red color, so dominant a feature in their spring landscapes. The lovely yellow-flowered R, moUe, better known imder Sweet's name of R. si- nenae, is foimd on open hillsides from the coast near Ningpo to Ichang in central China. It is a social plant though local in distribution. R. Mariem grows in thickets and thin woods from Fokien to western Hupeh and also in Formosa, but its near relative R, Farrerae is confined to Hongkong and a few places in the neighboring province of Kwan- tung. On open mountains in western Yunnan the small-flowered R, microphyUm is abimdant; this is the most alpine of the Chinese species and, with the little known R, atrovirens, is the most western of DISTRIBUTION 15 the section Tsutsutsi. The other two Chinese species are R, Seniavinii and R. Mariaef and these are apparently rare and confined to the east- central and south-central provinces. In Liukiu the gaudy-flowered R. scahrum is endemic, but was long ago taken to the gardens of southern Japan where it is a common plant to-day. This species has the largest flowers of dll Azaleas, and in a wild state and in gardens where it flowers freely is strikingly conspic- uous. Unfortimately in the Occident its tendency is to flower sparingly. I strongly suspect that R, phoeniceumy imknown as a wild plant though introduced from Canton about 1824, and the popular stock for grafting the "Indian Azaleas*' of western gardens, is specifically not really distinct from R, scahrum. Although eight species grow wild in Formosa, Azaleas cannot be called a prominent feature of the vegetation. The red-flowered R, Old- hamii is widespread, and in districts in the north like Mt. Daiton and round Lake Candidius in the centre of the island it is fairly abundant. On grass-clad mountain slopes east of Ari-san the pretty, pink-flowered R, rubropilosum is plentiful. The others, so far as my personal knowl- edge goes, are local if not actually rare plants. Lastly, on Luzon in the Philippine Islands grows R, svbsessile, the most southern representative of the group. The distribution and the number of the species in the four groups are shown in the following table: — Tsutsutsi Sciadorhodion Rhodora Pentanthera Japan 8 4 3 1 Korea 2 2 Liukiu 3 - - - Formosa 7 1 China 6 2 - 1 Philippines 1 - - - Pontus region, Caucasus,^ Lithuania, Poland and> - - -» 1 southwestern Russia ) CLASSIFICATION Many of our favorite garden plants of oriental origin came to us from the gardens of China and Japan and in some instances their wild prototypes have not yet been discovered. Often when the wild plant has been discovered it has been found to differ greatly from that already in cultivation, and in consequence has to be designated as a variety or form of the described garden type. Phylogeny and taxon- omy are often opposed, which is regrettable but unalterable. Stu- dents of the floras of the Orient, particularly those of China and Japan, cannot too strongly bear in mind the fact that a great many of the earliest described species are based on cultivated plants. Let me illustrate this by reference to Japan. The Japanese, like the Chinese and Koreans, are lovers of the odd and curious in flowers and trees for which they have an innate love. Nearly every house, from the poorest hovel to the castle of the feudal lord or his descendants, boasts a few flowers or a garden of some sort. The Japanese love their mountains, many of which are sacred and on most of them shrines have been raised. Pilgrimages to these mountains and shrines are a passion with the people and as mementoes of their visits it is a common practice, and has been for centuries, to bring back some strange or curious plant for their gardens. The result is that Japanese gardens are full of odd and curious plants — dwarf plants, weeping plants, fastigiate plants, plants with variegated and curiously incised foliage, plants with abnormal flowers. This love of flowers has been fostered by Buddhist priests, and this has led to mutual exchange of plants among the peoples of China, Korea, Japan and Liukiu. Now if it be properly realised that it was from such gardens — really museums of oddities — that our early plants were taken and names applied to them the diflEi- culty of identifying them with their wild parents will be better under- stood and appreciated. Until after 1860 all the Azaleas introduced from the Orient were from gardens, chiefly those of Batavia, Canton and Shanghai. As the plants flowered they were given specific and varietal names, but no attempt to discover their origin was made. Some were placed under the genus Azalea and others under that of Rhododendron. Salisbury 16 CLASSIFICATION 17 (Prodr. 286 (1796)) was the first to point out that Azalea and Rhodo- dendron could not be maintained as distinct genera. In 1834 G. Don (Gen. Syst III. 843) placed all the known species under Rhododendron. Indiscriminate naming, however continued, and in 1854 Planchon, in Flore dea SerreSy IX. (1854), and in Revue Horticole (1854), reviewed the varieties from the Orient, placed all under Rhododendron and multi- plied considerably the specific names. In 1870 Maximowicz (M&m, Acad. Sd, St. PStershourg, s^r. 7, XVL No. 9 {Rhodod. As. Or.)) monographed the Rhododendrons of eastern Asia, and his work has remained the basis of all subsequent studies. Maximowicz dealt with the subject in a thorough and masterly manner. I differ from him widely in the conception and limits of certain sections and species, and in the systematic position of some varieties and forms, but I am none the less sensible of the great value of his pioneer work. Many will regret the change of names involved but none more so than myself. These changes are as unfortunate as they are unavoid- able. I adhere strictly to the rule of priority as laid down in the Vienna rules, and while this may sometimes be deemed a nuisance its fairness cannot be questioned. Moreover, if we are ever to enjoy fixed order in plant nomenclature it can only be brought about through strict adherence to accepted and established rules. It is a pity that Planchon's name Azalea cannot be used for the sub- genus. It is based on the genus Azalea of Linnaeus, the type of which is Azalea procumbens L., now known as Laiseleuria procumbena Desv. The six species enumerated under Azalea by Linnaeus {Spec. 150 (1753)) belong to two subgenera and one distinct genus, namely, Loiseleuria. With Planchon's name eliminated the oldest valid name for the subgenus is Anthodendron EndUcher. Of the four sections of the subgenus with which we are concerned three were established by G. Don {Gen. Hist. III. (1834)) and one (Sciadorhodion) is proposed here. The section Tsutsutsi G. Don was based on the plant figured by Kaempfer {Amoen. Exot. (1712)), which is R. ohtusum var. Kaempferi and is an excellent type of this homo- geneous group. G. Don included R. reticulatum and R. Farrerae, but these have deciduous leaves, no appressed, flattened, bristle-like hairs and lack other features characteristic of Tsutsutsi proper. For this reason I refer them to a new section, Sciadorhodion. G. Don also includes R. molle which belongs to his section Pentanthera. Planchon ^ For full details see page 115. 18 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD in Flore des Serves, IX. (1854), emends Don's name to Tsutsia, includes under it R. molle and R, Farrerae, and adds R, Championae Hook. In the last-named species the flowers develop from clustered, axillary buds, and it belongs to the section Choniastrum Franchet. Maximo- wicz emends the section; calls it Tsutsia, but keeps under it R, Cham- pionae.* He also emends Planchon's subgenus Azalea and employs it as a section to include R, Farrerae, R, molle and others; he also places in it i2. macrosepalunif which obviously belongs to the section Tsutsutsi. Of the new section Sciadorhodion, R. Schlippenhachii may be taken as the type, and under it we place R. reticulatum and R. Farrerae, referred by G. Don to his section Tsutsutsi, also R. Weyrichii which Maximo- wicz includes in his section Azalea. Together these form a very homo- morphic group. The type of G. Don's section Pentanthera is the Eurasian R. luteufn Sweet, but as most of the species are American I leave the discussion of it and also of the section Rhodora G. Don, the type of which is American though a majority of the species are Japanese, to my colleague Alfred Rehder. KEY TO THE ASIATIC SECTIONS OF THE SUBGENUS ANTHODENDRON ENDL. Flowers and leaves from the same bud. I^hoots with flattened, appressed, bristle-like hairs; leaves persistent or some- times deciduous, usually dimorphic, scattered on the branches, elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate I. TsutsiUsi. Shoots glabrous or villose, without bristle-like hairs; leaves deciduous, not di- morphic, in whorls at the end of the branchlets, scattered only on vigorous shoots, usually rhombic to obovate, rarely ovate . . .II. Sdadorhodion. Flowers from the terminal bud, leaves from lateral buds below. Corolla rotate-campanulate; stamens 8 to 10 III. Rhodora, Corolla funnel-form; stamens 5 IV. Penianthera, KEY TO THE ASIATIC SPECIES SECT. I. TSUTSUTSt G. DON Bud-scales not viscid; shoots densely clothed with flattened, appressed hairs. Corolla funnel-form-campanulate. Stamens 5 (5 to 8 in JR. tosaense). Style villose at base R. breviperulatumf p. 28. Style glabrous at base. Leaves linear-lanceolate to lanceolate or oblanceolate. Leaves crenate-dentate; flowers red to rose-red, more than 2.5 cm. across R^ indicunif p. 22. Leaves entire; flowers lilac-purple, less than 2 cm. across R. tosaensBt p. 52. Leaves oval or obovate to lanceolate. Leaves more than 1 cm. long, the midrib beneath covered with hairs and usually with scattered hairs on the whole under surface R. obtusum, p. 29. Leaves 1 cm. to 1 cm. or less long, glabrous beneath, except a few brown hairs on the midrib R. serpyllifoliumf p. 53. Stamens 7 to 10. Style villose at base. Leaves narrow-lanceolate to oblanceolate, crenate-dentat^; stamens 10 R. Kanehirai, p. 28. Leaves oval to obovate or lanceolate, entire; stamens 7 to 10. Flowers lilac to magenta; leaves generally elliptic-oblong, acute R. subsessiley p. 51* Flowers pink. Leaves conspicuously dimorphic, obovate to obovate-oblong, abruptly mucronate, 2 to 4.5 cm. long . R. lasiostylum, p. 50. Leaves not conspicuously dimorphic, often widest below the middle, elliptic-ovate to ovate-oblong or elliptic to elliptic-oblong, acute R. nibropilosum, p. 52. 19 20 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD Flowers more than 2.5 cm* across; leaves elliptic to elliptic-oblong or oblong-obovate, from 2 to 5 cm, tong, R. Simsiif p. 45. Flowers less than 2.5 cm. across. Leaves lanceolate, acuminate R. atroviren^ p; 50. Leaves oval to oblanceolate, 1 cm. or less long . R. Nakaharaij p. 54. Corolla with short, rarely long, cylindric tube and spreading lobes; stamens 5, rarely 4. Style villose at base; flowers white to rose-color . . , R. Seniavin^i^ p. 57. Style glabrous. Leaves persistent; flowers 5-partite. Corolla rose-purple, leaves not conspicuously dimorphic, oval to lanceolate R. microphytum, p. 57. Corolla hlac-colored, with a long tube; leaves conspicuously dimorphic, lanceolate or elliptic to oblong-obovate . . . . R. Mariae, p. 58. Leaves deciduous; flowers white, 4 to 5 partite; leaves narrow-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate or oblong-obovate, often prominently 3-nerved R. Tachonoskiif p. 55. Bud-scales viscid on inner surface; corolla wide funnel-form; calyx-lobes green, ample; style glabrous. Shoots densely clothed with flattened, appressed hairs; leaves conspieucusly dimorphic; stamens 10. Leaves persistent, calyx-lobes glandular-ciliate. Corolla scarlet to rose-red; calj^x-lobes oval to lanceolate; leaves sub- crenulate, coriaceous R. scahruniy p. 69. Corolla rose-purple to magenta; calyx-lobes lanceolate; leaves entire, subcoriaceous . R. phoeniceum, p. 61. Leaves deciduous or semipersistent, obscurely crenate-serrate, veins im- pressed above; corolla rose to rose-purple, fragrant, often double; calyx- lobes lanceolate, not glandular . R. yedoense, p. Q4:. Shoots with few appressed, flattened hairs and many spreading, pilose often glandular hairs. Stamens 8 to 10; leaves persistent or semipersistent, not conspicuously dimorphic. Corolla red, not viscid; stamens 10; ovary glandular; leaves not viscid beneath R. Oldhamii, p. 66. Corolla white or pale-purple, viscid outside; stamens 8 to 10; ovary gland- less; leaves viscid beneath R. mucronatum, p. 68. Stamens 5; leaves deciduous or semipersistent, lanceolate to oblanceolate- ovate or linear-lanceolate; corolla pink to pale rosy purple, viscid without, funnel-form or divided into linear segments; ovary glandular R. linearifolium, p. 74. SECT. II. SCIADORHODION REHD. & WILS. Leaves broadest below the middle; stamens nearly equal. Leaves ovate; corolla pale lilac-purple; stamens 8 to 10; fruit conic-ovoid on a curved pedicel R. Farreras, p. 79. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate; corolla rose-color; stamens 10; fruit short- cylindric, erect iJ. JIfariesti, p. 80. Leaves broadest about or above the middle. Leaves rhombic; fruit cyhndric. Stamens subequal; corolla red, rotate-funnel-fonn; style vii'oP3 R. Weyrichiiy p. 82. KEY TO THE ASIATIC SECTIONS OF TBJB SUBGENXTB 21 Stamens unequal, sometimes declinate; corolla rotate-campanulate. Corolla rose-purple to magenta; style glabrous, villose or lepidote or both; leaves with long scattered hairs when young, glabrescent at maturity; fruit cylindric, furrowed R. reticulatum, p. 83. Corolla white; style glabrous; leaves densely ciliate, short- villose, at least on midrib at maturity; fruit cylindric, terete R. quinqtiefolium, p. 87. Leaves broadly obovate; corolla pink; style glandular; fruit oblong-ovoid, verruculose R. Schlippenbachii, p. 88. SECT. III. RHODORA G. DON Corolla rotate-campanulate. Leaves obovate to oblong-oblanceolate, pubescent below; flowers 3 to 6, ma- genta; fruit conic-ovoid, bristly glandular R. Albrechtii, p. 91. Leaves elliptic to narrow-elliptic, glabrescent; petiole bearded; flowers 1 or 2, bright rose-pink; fruit spindle-shape, glabrous, verrucose R. pentaphyllum, p. 92. Corolla campanulate, white; leaves obovate to panduriform, subsessile with scat- tered, bristly hairs; fruit oblong-ovoid, verruculose, with thin valves, wavy at the margin when open R. nipponicum, p. 93. SECT. IV. PENTANTHERA G. DON Corolla wide-funnel-form, non-glandular. Stamens as long as the yellow corolla; leaves softly pubescent, often canescent; winter-buds velutinous R, molle, p. 95. Stamens shorter than the orange- or flame-red, rarely yellow corolla; leaves glabrous except on the veins beneath; winter-buds glabrous R. japonicum, p. 99. Corolla tubular with spreading lobes, glandular R. luteum, p. 103. ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES Sect. I. TSUTSUTSI G. Don Rhododendron section Tsutsutsi G. Don, Gen, Syst. III. 845 (1834), excluding Nos. 30, 31, 36, 39. Azalea Linnaeus, Spec. 150 (1753), as to species No. 1. Tsutsutsi Adanson, Fam. PI. II. 164 (1763). L&iseleria Reichenbach, Fl. Germ. Exc. I. 416 (1830). Beverinckia Salisbury ined. ex De Candolle, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 726 (1839). Rhododendron section TouUmsi Duchartre in Orbigny, Diet. Univ. Hist. Nat. XI. 120 (1849). Rhododendron subgenus Tsutsia Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 75 (1854); in Rev. Hort. 1854, 45. Rhododendron section Tsutsugi Miquel, Fl. Ind. Bat. II. 1059 (1857). Rhododendron section Tsusia Maximowicz in Mim. Acad. Sci. St. Pitera' hourg, s6r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 32 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870), excluding No. 17. Azalea subgenus Tsutsutsi K. Koch, Dendr. II. pt. 1, 171 (1872), excluding species No. 6. Shrubs with dense twiggy branches; shoots densely or sparsely clothed with appressed, flattened, red-brown or rufous hairs, occasionally also with spreading soft hairs. Flowers from terminal bud, with leafy shoots from axils of lower scales of same bud. Leaves evergreen or half evergreen, rarely deciduous, more or less villose, rarely glandular. Corolla funnel-form, campanulate-funnel-form, rarely cylindric, with short spreading lobes; stamens 5 to 10, equal or unequal in length, never declinate, puberulous, or pubescent; ovary strigose, sometimes glan- dular. Fruit conic or conic-ovoid, glabrescent or strigose- villose, 5-celled; seeds wingless. This section is confined to eastern Asia, where it is represented by 22 species. Rhododendron indicum Sweet, Brit, Flow. Gard. ser. 2, II. sub. t. 128 (1833). — G. Don, Gm. Syst. III. 845 <1834), excluding varieties. — De Candolle, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 726 (1839), in part. — Siebold & Zuccar rini in Ahh. Akad. Munch. IV. pt. III. 131 {Fl. Jap. Fam. Nat. 7) (1846), in part. — Miquel, Fl. Ind. Bat. II. 1059 (1857). — Maximowicz in M^. Acad. Sd. St. Petershaurg, s6t. 7, XVI. No. 9, 37 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870), in part. — Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. I. 291 (1875), in part. — Schneider, III. Handh. Lavbholzk. 11. 506, figs. 331 l-m, 332 a-d (1911).— Rehder in Bailey, Stand. Cyd. Hort. V. 2944 (1916).— Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [18] (1918). Azalea indica Linnaeus, Spec. 150 (1753). — Burmann, Fl. Ind. 42 (1768). — Willdenow, Spec. I. pt. 2, 831 (1798). — Persoon, Syn. 212 (1805). — Aiton, 22 ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 23 H&rt. Kew. ed. 2, 1. 318 (1810), as to description and synonyms. — Roemer & Schultes, Syst. Veg. IV. 374 (1819), excluding /9. — Blume, Cat. Gewass. Buitem. 44 (1823); Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 852 (1825). — Sprengel, Syst. Veg. I. 628 (1825). Azalea indica var. b. spatulata Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 852 (1825). Azalea indica var. d. angustifolia Blume Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 852 (1825.) Azalea indica var. e. floribunda Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 852 (1825). Azalea macrantha Bunge in Mim. Soc. tltr, Sci. St. Pitershourg, II. 115 {Enum. PI Chin. Bor. 41) (1833). Azalea indica lateritia Lindley in Bot. Reg. XX. t. 1700 (1834). Rhododendron macranthum G. Don, Gen. Syst. III. 846 (1834). — Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 2, III. t. 261 (1834). Rhododendron decumbens D. Don apud G. Don, Gen. Syst. III. 846 (1834). Azalea Danielsiana Paxton, Mag. Bot. I. 129, t. (1834). Rhododendron indicum 8. flateritium De CandoUe, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 726 (1839). Azalea f macrantha De CandoUe, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 718 (1839). Azalea decumbens De CandoUe, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 718 (1839). Rhododendron Breynii Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 77 (1854). Rhododendron Danielsianum Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 79 (1854). Rhododendron lateritium Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 80 (1854). Rhododendron Sieboldii /3. serrulatum Miquel in Ann. Mus. Ludg.-Bat. I. 33 (1863). Azalea Breynii Andr6 in Belg. Hort. XV. 183 (1865). Azalea lateritia Hort. ex Andr6 in Belg. Hort. XV. 185 (1865). Rhododendron indicum y. macranthum Maximowicz in MSm. Acad. Sci. St. PUersbourg, s^r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 39 {Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870).— Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PL Jap. II, 292 (1875). — Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIV. 77 (1910). — Matsumura, Ind. PI. Jap. II. pt. 2, 461 (1912). Rhododendron indicum y. macranthum a. macranthum genuinum Maximowicz in AfM. Acad. Sci. St. Pitersbourg, s6r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 39 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). — Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIV. 77 (1910). Rhododendron indicum y. macranthum b. lateritium Maximowicz in Mim. Acad. Sci. St. Pitersbourg, s4r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 39 {Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870).— Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIV. 77 (1910). Rhododendron lateritium var. brachytrichum Nakai in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIX [261] (1915). Rhododendron hangnoense Nakai in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIX. [261] (1915). Rhododendron indicum f . lateritium Rehder in Mitt. Deutsch. Dendr. Ges. XXIV. 225 (1916); in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hart. V. 2944 (1916). Rhododendron indicum var. brachytrichum Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXI. [18] (1918). Japan: Kyushu, prov. Osumi, Yaku-shima, side of torrents, alt. 300-800 m. February 19, 1914, E. H. Wilson (No. 6003); same place, without collector's name (Herb. Bur. Sci. Manila) ; prov. Hizen, Naga- saki, 1873, Capt. Blomfield (Herb. Kew) ; same locality, ex Herb. Lugd.- Bat. 1863, as R. Sieboldii var. minor, in part (Herb. Kew and Herb. Gray); same locality, cultivated, 1863, C. Moximomcz (Herb. Kew, co-type of R. indicum y. macranthum b. lateritum Maximowicz). Hondo, prov. Shinano, 1864, Tschonoski (Herb. Kew); prov. Sagami, Hakone, cultivated, June 21, 1914, E. H. Wilson (No. 6888); near Uraga, 1862, 24 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD C. Maximowicz (Herb. Kew and Herb. Gray, co-type of R, indicum y. rmwranthum subvar. a. genuinum Maximowicz) ; prov. Suruga, foot of Mt. Fuji, cultivated, June 13, 1914, E. H, Wilson (No. 6932); prov. Musashi, Yokohama, cultivated, 1862, C. Maximomcz (Herb. Kew and Herb. Gray); Tokyo, cultivated, July 2, 1882, K. Miyabe; same locality (Herb. Bot. Gard. Tokyo, type of R, lateritium var. brachytrichum Nakai); prov. Shimotsuke, Nikko, alt. 600-1000 m. cultivated and sub-spontaneous, June 20 flowers, October 20 fruit, 1914, E. H. Wilson (Nos. 6816, 6818, 7709). Cultivated: Java ex Herb. Ludg.-Bat. 1863, as R. indicum Sweet (Herb. Kew); Hongkong Bot. Gard. May 12, 14, 31, 1919, W, J. Tutcher, The only place where I have seen this species truly wild is Yaku-shima, an island some ninety miles south of Kagoshima and interesting as being the southern limit of the range of a great many Japanese plants. On that island R. indicum Sweet is a common fluviatile shrub growing from a half to two meters high and forming dense masses in open country on the banks of rock-strewn streams. Elsewhere in Japan I found it cultivated only, although in old burial and temple grounds it is often more or less naturalized. Makino says it grows spontaneously in the provinces of Kii and Yamato in Hondo and not so very far from the old capital of Kyoto. In an old burial ground at Nikko the plants were prostrate or nearly so and with their scattered, large red flowers strongly suggested the Rock Cistus, and one saw how very applicable was the name the ancients gave this plant. The plants though often decumbent are naturally upright and very densely branched; the branches are slender but rigid and are clothed with flattened, appressed, strigose, chestnut- brown hairs which in the second and third years lose their color and disappear. The leaves are sub-coriaceous and crowded, short-petioled, narrow-lanceolate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, mucronulate, dark green, rather shining above, pallid or sub-glaucous beneath, ciUolate, usually remotely crenate-dentate, with scat- tered, closely appressed, red-brown setose hairs on both surfaces; in the autumn the leaves change to crimson and vinous purple. The flowers are terminal, solitary or in pairs; the corolla is broad-funnel shape, opening at the same time or im- mediately before annual growth commences, bright red to scarlet, sometimes rose- red; there are 5 stamens shorter than the style but equalling or exceeding the corolla in length. In Japanese gardens this Azalea is a prime favorite and I was told that some- thing like two hundred named forms are recognized. It is planted on or among rocks, singly or in groups, and is used as a garden edging. It bears trimming well, and its naturally low, dense habit makes it particularly useful in the gardens of Japan. Its native name is "Satsuki-tsutsuji," that is Fifth-month Azalea, from the fact that it blossoms in June, which is the fifth month of the year reckoning by the old Chinese calendar. The first mention of this plant in a European book is in Breyne's Prodromus, I. 23 (1680), which I have not seen, but in the edition of 1739 it is mentioned in pt. I. 16 as " Chamaerhododendron exoticum, amplissimis floribus liliaceis." Breyne was a merchant of Danzig and a distinguished botanist who visited Holland dur- ing the last quarter of the 17th century and in his Prodomus described the re- markable plants he saw there. His " Chamaerhododendron " was growing in the garden of a Mr. Beveringk, but uq mention is made of its country of origin. ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 25 Hermann in his Acadendd Horti lugduno-hatavi catahgus 152. fig: (1687), de- scribes and figures it under the name of " Cistus Indicus, Ledi Alpini foliis & floribus amplis." He cites Bre3me and says the plant came from Jaccatra (that iig Batavia, Java). Hermann's figure though crude is easily recognized as repre- senting the plant we are discussing and can in fact be identified with no other species. Doubtless it was taken by Dutch trading ships from Nagasaki to Batavia and from there to Holland. Ray in his Historia Plantarum II. 1895 (1688) men- tions it, citing Hermann and Bre3Tie. On this plant of Breyne, Hermann and Ray, Linnaeus (Spec. 150 (1753)) bases his Azalea indica so there can be no mistake as to its identity even though Linnaeus gives the habitat as the East Indies, and cites " Tsutsusi Kaempfer Amoen. 845, t. 846," which is Rhododendron ohtusum var. Kaemp/eri Wils. The plant of Breyne and Linnaeus is Kaempfer' s " Token, vulgo Satsuki, Cytisus Liliifer autumnalis Tsutsusi congener," of which he men- tions {Amoen. Exot. fasc. V. 849 (1712)) five kinds, including single and double- flowered red and white forms. Linnaeus' species was introduced into England in 1833 by Mr. M'Killigan to Knight's Nurse in Chelsea under the name of Azalea indica lateritia and flowered there for the first time in May 1834. About the same time forms differing slightly in color were brought from China to England by officers commanding the East India Company's trading ships and named Azalea Danielsiana, R. macranthum and R. decumbens. According to Hovey {Mag. Hort. V. 25 (1839)) Azalea lateritia and A. Danielsiana were introduced from England into Boston, Mass., in 1838. Up to about 1845 color forms, many of seedling origin, of R. indicum were more numerous in our gardens than those of R. Simsii and these with forms of R. phoeniceum and R. mucronatum {Azalea ledifolia) collectively constitute the Azalea indica of the period. It is recorded that on March 13, 1837, ten varieties of Azalea in- dica were exhibited at Ghent by Mr. Charles Deloose and awarded a gold medal. After 1850 the true Rhododendron indicum and its forms rapidly dropped from cultivation and the name was appropriated for the varieties of the Chinese R. Simsii Planch. Aiton in 1810 and Sims in 1812 were first to unite the Japanese and Chinese plants; Sweet in 1832 made the Chinese plant a variety of R. indicum. The rest of the story is told by the synonomy, but that the confusion is complete is proved by the fact that to-day Linnaeus' plant is absolutely unknown to gardens under the name he gave it. In fact it has become more or less lost to cultivation, although its double-flowered form, balsaminaefiorum, is well known and appre- ciated. R. indicum is really a very pretty species and well adapted for rockeries in mild, moist countries, and is about as hardy as R. ohtusum f . amoenum Wils. I sent seeds and plants of it from Japan to the Arnold Arboretum in 1914. The Azalea "J. T. Lovett " of American gardens, claimed to be of hybrid origin is nothing but the true R. indicum. Up to about 1850 several varieties of this Azalea were cultivated under the name of "Indian Azaleas" and in all proba- bility hybrids between it and R. Simsii Planch, were obtained. Such old varieties as "The Bride "with white flowers, and Van Houtte's Azalea indica punctulata, A. punctulata variegata, A. punctulata omnicolor {Fl. des Serr. XVI. 17, tt. 1618- 1623 [1865]) are, I think, hybrids between the two species. In the evolution of the large-flowered " Indian Azalea" of commerce of to-day I doubt if R. indicum has had any part. The fact that it cannot be forced by strong heat to blossom out of season is against it, since this is a marked feature of the " Indian Azaleas " of greenhouses to-day. When grafted on the vigorous R. phoeniceum the size of the flowers is increased. A form with white flowers is: — Rhododendron indicum f. hakatashiro Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). 26 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD Rhododendron indicum f . Hakatajiro Komatsa in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [45] (1918). This is often seen in old Japanese gardens and has been introduced into England. A form with sahnon-red flowers whitish at the base is: — Rhododendron indicum f. tanimanoyuM Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). — Komatsu in Tokyo Bot Mag. XXII. [45] (1918). The best known to-day of all the forms of R, indicum is: — Rhododendron indicum var. balsaminaeflorum Nicholson in Kew Hand-list, pt. 2, 53 (1896); ed. 2, 499 (1902). — Bean, Trees and Shrubs Bnt. Isl II. 362 (1914). — Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). Azalea Rollissoni T. Moore in Florist and Pomol. 1878, 35 fig. — Garden XVIII. 254, t. 249 (1880). Azalea rosaeflora R. Dean in Fl. Mag. XIX. t. 418 (1880). Azalea halsaminaeflora Carri^re in Rev. Hort. 1882, 432 t. — Nicholson, Diet. Gard. 1. 149, fig. 196 (1887). Azalea indica var. rosiflora Rehder in Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. 1. 122, fig. 176 (1900). Rhododendron indicum var. rosifiorum Rehder in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hort. V. 2944 (1916); in Mitt. Deutsch. Dendr. Ges. XXIV. 226 (1916). Rhododendron indicum Rollisoni Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). This interesting little plant is common in the gardens of Japan, and it is there, as in the West, of very slow growth. It is uncertain whether it was first introduced into England or France. In the Garden, XVIII. p. 254 (1880), it is said to have been " introduced about three years ago by Messrs. Rollisson." Carri^re says it was introduced into France from Japan by M. Viesener in 1877. On Long Island, New York, it is hardy in sheltered, shady places. Bean says " it has lived out- of-doors for many years at Kew but prefers a milder climate," Millais states that it is "a great favorite for rock gardens, where it does not always flourish." The Japanese name for the Azalea is " Komanyo-satsuki." Similar but rather less double is: — Rhododendron indicum f. kinnozai Millais, Rhodod. 1913 (1917). An old form is: - — Rhododendron indicum f. variegatmn De Candolle, Prodr. VII. pt. 2, 726 (1839). Azalea, indica var. a. variegata Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 852 (1825). — Lindley in Bot. Reg. XX. t. 1716 (1834). — Hovey, Mag. Hort. V. 25 (1839). Rhododendron indicum i. Matsushima Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). This has white and red striped and spotted flowers and blooms irregularly the year round. In the nursery district round Osaka it is known as '' Shiki-takane- ,8atsuki." In Blume's time it was cultivated in Java, and according to Lindley it was introduced into England by Mr. M'Killigan in 1833, to Knight's nursery in Chelsea, (London. From this Azalea Knight raised several seedling forms which received names. Such plants as Azalea indica exquisita Lemaire (in Fl. des Serr. III. t. 239 (1847), syn. R. indicum equisitum Lemaire) and Azalea indica Iveryana aJho- ENX7MERATI0N OF THE 8PECIES 27 eincta Van Houtte (in Fl. dea Sen. XI. 211, 1. 1180 (1866)), are probably seedlinga from Azalea indica variegata. So too are Azaleas " Gledstanesii," ** Iveryana," "Charles Encke " and " Reine Louise." In fact this var. variegatum was the parent of most of the best "Indian Azaleas" cultivated up to about 1850. Ac- cording to Hovey the var. variegatum was introduced into Boston, Mass., in 1838, and for many years was a familiar and much admired plant at exhibitions. It is still cultivated in the Holm Lea collection, so also are the above mentioned named forms. These Azaleas were famous in their day and have been grown in this coun- try for more than seventy years. " Gledstanesii " was raised by Mebsers Rollis- Bon of Tooting and exhibited for the first time in London on May 15, 1841. It was imported into this country by Hovey & Co., Boston, Mass., who exhibited it before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society on May 2, 1846. In England the var. variegatum appears to have been lost to cultivation until quite recently, when it was reintroduced under the name used by Millais. • A curious and abnormal form is: — Rhododendron indicum f. polypetalum Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron indicum y. macranthum c. polypetalum Maximowicz in M6m, Acad. Sci. St. Pitersbourg, s6r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 40 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). Cultivated : Hongkong Bot. Gard. May 20, 1919, W. J. Tutcher, I have seen the Herb. Kew co-tjrpe of this curious plant with its petaloid, deeply laciniate calyx and no corolla. In Japan its vernacular name is " Kin-no-zai." I have not seen this plant nor the following, which has a proper calyx and a deeply laciniate corolla. Rhododendron indicum f . laciniattmi Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron indicum y. macranthum subvar. b. lateritium f. ladniatum Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXVII. 110 (1910). Makino gives " Shide-satsuki " as the Japanese name of this curious form. Komatsu enumerates several other forms, but the only other it is necessary to mention here is the very distinct: — Rhododendron indicum var. crispiflorum Schneider, III Handb, Lavbholzk, II. 506 (1911). — Rehder in Bailey, Stand. CycL Hort V. 2944 (1916). Azalea crispijlora Hooker in Bot. Mag. LXXIX. t. 4726 (1853). — Lemaire, Jard. Fl. IV. t. 430 (1854). — Hovey, Mag. Hort. XXIII. 70 (1857); XXIV. 141 (1858). Azalea indica crispijlora Van Houtte in Fl. des Serr. IX. t. ad p. 79 (1854). Rhododendron crispiflorum Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 83 (1854); in Rev, Hort. 1854, 67. This interesting variety has thicker leaves than the type and the wavy margins of its corolla give it a distinct appearance. The Azalea indica var. grandiflora Blume, of which there is a specimen in Herb. Kew collected by Thomas Lobb, is similar, but the margin of the corolla is not wavy. JR. indicum var. crispiflorum, was introduced into England from China by Robert Fortune to the nursery of Messers Standish & Noble in 1850 or 1851. It was imported from England to Boston, Mass., in 1855 by C. M. Hovey; soon afterwards a plant was acquired by Ignatius Sargent, Esq., father of Professor C. S. Sargent, and descendants of the 28 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD original plant are in the Holm Lea collection to this day. In England it appears to have been lost to cultivation until plants were sent to Kew and elsewhere from Holm Lea by Professor Sargent. Rhododendron Kanehirai Wilson, n. sp. Frutex ramosissimus, 1-2.5 m. altus; rami graciles, ramulosi, juveniles pilis compressis castaneis adpressis vestiti. Folia petiolata, dimorpha; vemalia sparsa, lineari-lanceolata vel oblongo-lanceolata, 2-5 cm. longa, 0.5-1.5 cm. lata, acuta, glanduloso-mucronulata, basi attenuata, obscure crenato-serrata, supra atrovi- xidia, subtus pallida, utrinque pilis lucide brunneis strigosis adpressis vestita, Tenia supra impressis; folia aestivalia in apice ramulorum aggregata, lineari- oblanceolata vel anguste obovata, 1.5-3 cm. longa, 0.2-0.6 cm. lata, apice acuta vel rotundata, ceterum ut vemalia; petioli 1-5 mm. longi, dense pilis compressis castaneis adpressis vestiti. Flores terminales, bini vel raro solitarii, carminei vel scarlatini; pedicelli robusti, erecti, 5-8 mm. longi, dense pilis castaneis strigosis vestiti; calyx plerumque bene evolutus; lobi virides, erecti, rotundati vel ovales, 1-5 mm. longi, 1-2 mm. lati, pilis adpressis lucide castaneis ciliati; corolla anguste infundibuliformis, 2.5-4 cm. longa et 2-2.5 cm. lata, glabra; stamina 10, ineaqualia, corolla breviora, filamentis gracilibus infra medium papillose pubescentibus, an- theris 1-1.5 mm. longis; ovarium dense pilis cinereis vel castaneis strigosis ob- tectum; stylus gracilis, 3-4 cm. longus, ad basin pilis paucis compressis strigosis instructus, stigmate parvo capitato. Fructus non visus. Formosa: prov. Taihoku, Ural, in a garden at the police station, April 1, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,276). This new species is closely related to R. indicum Sweet, which is distinguished chiefly by its smaller leaves, rather larger, usually solitary flowers, its 5 stamens with anthers from 2 to 3 mm. long and by its stouter and glabrous style. The chief morphological difference is the number of stamens, and it may eventually prove that this new species is a decandrous variety of the old Linnean plant. I saw it in the garden mentioned above and was told that the plants had been brought from the higher slopes of the surrounding mountains. It is distinct from anything else I have seen and apparently has nothing to do with any of the species described by Hayata. The flowers vary in color from carmine-red to scarlet. Rhododendron breviperulatum Hayata, Icon. PI. Formos. III. 129 (1913). — Kanehira, Formos. Trees, 318, fig. 16 (1917). — Komatsu in Tokyo BoL Mag. XXXII. [14] (1918). Formosa! prov. Nanto, Horisha, planted in Hotel garden, December 6, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 11,206). This red-flowered Azalea is well characterized by its 5 stamens and its pilose style; also by its leaves, which are oblong to oblanceolate or more rarely oblong- ovate, with no conspicuous difference between those of the spring and summer. The calyx-lobes are membranous, reddish, from 3 to 4 mm. long, ciliate and pilose without, glabrous within. The corolla is from 2.5 to 3 cm. long and broad; the stamens are nearly as long as the corolla and have rather large purple anthers. The young shoots and leaves are clothed with red-brown to gray appressed hairs. The plants my specimens came from were from 1 to 1.5 cm. tall and had rather slender branches. I was told that they had been brought from the neighboring mountains. ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 29 I cannot be absolutely sure of the correct identification of this plant. It agrees very well with Hayata's description, though the calyx and corolla are larger than he describes them, and the apiculate base of the anthers is by no means very apparent. Rhododendron obtusum Planchon in Fl. des Sen. IX. 80 (1854); in Rev. Hort. 1854, 64. — Schneider, III. Handh. Lavbholzk. II. 506, fig. 332e (1911). — Rehder in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hart. V. 2944 (1916). — Jour. Jap. Bot. 1. [173] fig. (1917). — Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [39] I918."-Miyazawa in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [318] (1918). Azalea indica Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 84 (1784), in part, not Linnaeus. — Juel, PI. Thunb. 391 (1918). Azalea ohttisa Lindley in Jour. Hort. Soc. Lond. I. 152 (1846); in Bot. Reg. XXXII. t. 37 (1846). Rhododendron Thunhergii Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 78 (1854). Rhododendron Sieholdii minor Miquel in Ann. Mm. Ludg.-Bat. I. 33 (1863); II. 164 (1865-66); Prol. Fl. Jap. 96 (1866-67). Azalea Thunhergii Andr6 in Belg. H(yrt. XV. 184 (1865). Rhododendron indicum S. obtusum Maximowicz in Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Peters- bourg, s^r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 40 {Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). — Franchet & Sava- tier, Enum. PI. Jap. I. 292 (1875). — Matsumura, Ind. PI. Jap. II. pt. 2, 461 (1912). — Bean, Tries and Shrubs Brit. Isles, II. 362 (1914). — Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). Azalea indica var. obtusa Rehder in Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. I. 122 (1900). Rhododendron indicum Kirishima Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). Rhododendron obtusum f . a. Honkirishima Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [39] (1918). Japan: Kyushu, prov. Osumi, Kirishima-jinza in a garden, said to have come from Nishi-Kirishima, May 5, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,328) ; prov. Hizen, Nagasaki, G. H. Langsdorff (Herb. Kew); same locality, cultivated, 1863, C. Maximowicz (Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray); probably same locality, von Siehold (Herb. Kew^, Herb. Gray); Hondo, prov. Kii, May 3, 1886, H. Mayr; prov. Musashi, Tokyo, cultivated. May 11, 1883 (Herb. Kew); same locality. May 12, 1904, K. Sakurai; cultivated. Imperial Botanic Garden, Tokyo, March 29, 1914, E. H. Wilson (No. 6338); Yokohama, cultivated, Yokohama Nursery Company's grounds, April 30, 1918, E. H. Wilsm; Tokyo, Hilgendorf, ex Mus. Bot. Berol. (Herb. Bur* Sci. Manila); prov. Rikuzen, Sendai, cultivated. May 26, 1888, U. Faurie (No. 2296, Herb. Kew); prov. Ugo, Akita, cultivated. May 20, 1888, U. Faurie (No. '2132, Herb. Kew); Japan, without locality, L. Savatier (Herb. Kew) ; without locality or collector's name, ex Herb. Lugd.-Bat. (Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray as R. Sieholdii var. minor Miquel). 30 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD It is always unfortunate when a selected or garden form has to do duty as the type of a species. Such is the case here and the result is that the phylogenetic order is inverted. Under the name of " Kirishima-tsutsuji " this plant has for cen- turies been grown in Japanese gardens. By this name it is mentioned by Kaempfer {Amoen. Exoi. fasc. V. 849 [1712]), and his description is perfectly accurate. It is a densely branched, twiggy plant, seldom more than a metre high and usually less, and has smaU, scarlet, slightly scented flowers. Like all its relatives it is exceed- ingly floriferous, and in April and early May, as Kaempfer says, the whole plant appears blood red. In the autumn the leaves are lustrous and assume fine crimson tints. The tjrpical form has rather pointed corolla-lobes, as shown in Lindley*8 figure, and this is the one so abundantly grown around Tokyo and Yokohama. At Kurume in Kyushu this typical form is called " Hiryu." In the nursery district round Osaka a form with rounded corolla-lobes is grown and sold as the Kirishima Azalea, and it is this form that is grown in many western gardens as the real R. oh- tusum Planch. At Kurume what appears to be this form is called " Hino-tsukasa.'* A hose-in-hose form of the type is grown around Tokyo as "Yayegiri" and at Kurume as " Yayehiryu." In addition a munber of other slight forms are grown, some of which are mentioned by Komatsu. Like a number of other Japanese Azaleas this plant was first sent to western gardens from China. Robert Fortune found it in the Pou-shan Azalea gardens near Shanghai, and sent it to the Horticultural Society of London in 1844. For- time saw in the same Chinese garden the hose-in-hose (semi-double) form. Fortune's introduction was named and figured by Lindley. The figure shows the obovate, rounded, obtuse, mucronate summer leaves of the previous year and two newly developed elliptic-lanceolate, acute spring leaves. Too little attention has been paid to the fact that the red-flowered species of this section of Rhododendron all have dimorphic leaves. Those which are formed immediately after the flowers open are from lanceolate to ovate or elliptic in shape, acute, light green in color and membraneous in texture. The "spring leaves" are followed by "summer leaves," which are smaller, more or less obovate in shape, obtuse or rounded at the apex, dark green and fairly coriaceous. These spring leaves are normally de- ciduous and the summer leaves persistent, but climate exercises a strong in- fluence,— the colder it is the more deciduous the leaves, and vice versa. In the early summer when the larger spring leaves predominate, the plant presents a very different appearance to what it does in late autumn or early spring when the small obovate summer leaves only are present. The overlooking or inappreciation of this simple fact has resulted in much confusion in the classification of the species and forms. Now as to the origin of R. ohtusum. Its name " Kirishima Azalea " would appear to suggest its original habitat. Working on this clue I visited Mt. Kirishima and am convinced that the so-called " Kirishima Azalea " is simply a color form of the Azalea so extraordinarily abundant on this mountain and hereunder referred to as f . japonicum. Long ago some pilgrim to this sacred mountain took back a plant or plants as a souvenir, planted it in his garden and from it (or them) has sprung all the plants of this particular Azalea in gardens to-day. The Japanese have always been fond of making pilgrimages to their sacred Eihrines and mountains, and their houses and gardens are often museums filled with souvenirs of such visits. The Azalea known as amoena is unquestionably of like origin, and so too is " Hinodegiri," a more recent comer but an established favorite in our gardens. Further, the race of Azaleas known as " Kurume Azaleas," with which we are only just now becoming acquainted, is a garden product derived by long cultiva- tion from the same common stock — the vari-colored Azalea of Mt. Kirishima, f . japonicum Wils. ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 31 A form with white flowers is: — Rhododendron obtusum f . album Schneider, III Handb. Lavhhohk. II. 606 (1911). — Rehder in Bailey, Stand. Cycl HorL V. 2944 (1916). Azalea ramentacea Lindley in Jour. Hort. Soc. Land. IV. 291, fig. (1849). Rhododendron ramentaceum Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 81 (1854); in Rev. Hort. 1854, 65. Azalea ohtusa alba Mottet, Diet. Hort. Jard. I. 302 (1892-93). Rhododendron (Azalea) Indicum obtusum album, Garden and Forest, IX. 394, fig. 52 (1896). — Bean, Trees and Shrubs Bnt. Isl. II. 362 (1914).— Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). Azalea indica var. obtu^a f. alba Rehder in Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. 1. 122 (1900). Azalea amoena albd Moller's Deutsch. G&rtn. Zeit. XVIII. 476, fig. (1903). Cultivated : Hort. Holm Lea, Brookline, Mass.; Hort. Berckmans^ Augusta, Georgia, March 18, 1909, April 6, 1914, C, S. Sargent, This is another of Fortune's introductions from China to the garden of the Horticultural Society of London. It was received in May, 1846, from Hongkong^ and certainly from a garden (although this is not expressly stated) and doubt- less of Japanese origin. It has the dense, twiggy habit characteristic of its class,, pure white flowers with a normal calyx and rather large leaves. In every essen- tial respect it agrees with f . japonicum Wils., of which it is nothing but a selected, cultivated form, as are A. obtv^a, A. amoena, ''Hinodegiri'* and the "Kunime Azaleas." Among the latter are several white-flowered forms with relatively large leaves. Under f. japonicum the origin of this "obtusum" group of Azaleas is dis- cussed, but I may add here that variants of f . japonicum having white flowers have been found wild on Nishi-Kirishima. Such a plant is growing in a garden at the foot of the mountain and from it I gathered specimens. I have been imable to find out just when this plant was introduced into America but in all probabihty it was very soon after its appearance in England. For more than sixty years it haa been cultivated in the Holm Lea collection and from there was sent by Professor Sargent to England, where it appears that it had bec6me lost, and to the Berck- mans and to other gardens. A form with a small corolla and long exserted stamens is: — Rhododendron obtusum f. macrostemon Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron macrostemon Maximowicz in M^. Acad. Sci. St. Piiersbourg, 86r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 41, t. 3, figs. 15-20 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870).— Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. I. 292 (1875). — Okubo in Tokyo Bot. Mag. IX. 40 (1895). — Schneider, III. Handb. Laubholzk. II. 507, fig. 332 h-k (1911). — Millais, Rhodod. 205 (1917). Rhododendron indicum var. macrostemon Okubo & Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XVI. 178 (1902). — Matsumura, Ind. PI. Jap. II. pt. 2, 461 (1912). Rhododendron Kaempferi var. macrostemon Makino in Jour. Jap. Bot. I. 18 (1917). — Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [43] (1918). Japan : Hondo, prov. Musashi, Tokyo, cultivated, 1862, C Maxi-- mouricz (Herb. Kew, co-type). This garden plant is characterised by its small flowers, minute calyx, and long exserted stamens, which are three times as long as the corolla. It is, however, 32 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD more a condition of than a distinct form. In all the forms of R. obtusum, including the large flowered var. Kaempferi, the stamens are variable in length, and are in- constant in this from year to year. In the wild f . japonicum and the, cultivated ** Kurume Azaleas " the stamens are conspicuously variable in length. The same is true of the/, multicolor. Besides the co-type cited above there is another Japanese specimen in the Kew Herbarium from Maximowicz, collected by Tschonoski in Shinano province, central Hondo, in 1864, and labelled, apparently in Maximo- wicz's handwriting, " Rhod. indicum a. Kaempferi forma svbalpina." This differs only in having larger flowers than those of his R. macrostemon. A well-known form with magenta-colored flowers is : — Rhododendron obtusum f. amoenum Wilson, n. comb. Azalea amoena Lindley in Paxton, Flow. Gard. III. 81, t. 89 (1852). — Hooker in Bot. Mag. LXXIX. t. 4728 (1853). — i2ev. Hwi. 1854, 241, t. — Van Houtte in Fl. des Serr. IX. 75, t. 885 (1854). — Hovey, Mag. Hart. XXII. 9 (1856); XXIII. 70 (1857); XXIV. 141 (1858). Rhododendron amoenum Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 80 (1854); in Rev. Hort, 1854, 64. — Bean, Trees and Shrubs BHt. I si. II. 341 (1914). Rhododendron Buergeri Miquel in Ann. Mus. Lugd.-Bat. 1. 34 (1863); in II. 164 (1865-66); Prol. Fl. Jap. 96 (1866-67). Rhododendron indicum €. amoenum d. genuinum Maximowicz in M&m. Acad. Sci. St. Pitersb(mrg, s6r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 41 {Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). — Franchet and Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. 1. 292 (1875). — Matsumura, Ind. PI. Jap. II. pt. 2, 461 (1912). — Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). Rhododendron indicum €. dmoenum b. normale Maximowicz in Mhn. Acad. Sci. St. Pitersbourg, s6r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 41 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). Rhododendron indicum «. amoenum c. Buergeri Maximowicz in Mim. Acad. Sci. St. Pitersbourg, s6r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 41 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). Azalea amoena Caldwelli Caldwell apud Van Geert, Icon. Azal. Ind. 45, 1. 17 (1882). Azalea indica var. amoena Rehder in Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. I. 122 (1900). Rhododendron Kaempferi var. amoenum Rehder in Sargent, Trees and Shrubs^ II. 30 (1907). — Schneider, III. Handb. Laubholzk. II. 505, fig. 332, f-g (1911). Rhododendron obtusum var. amoenum Rehder in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hort. V. 2944 (1916). — Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. 41 (1918). Azalea amoena Hatsu-giri Millais, Rhodod. 113 (1917). Japan: Kyushu, prov. Hizen, cultivated, Nagasaki, 1863, C Maximowicz (Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray). Hokkaido, prov. Oshima, Hakodate, cultivated, 1861, C. Maximowicz (Herb. Kew as f. normale Maxim.). Without locality, probably Nagasaki, ex Herb. Lugd.- Bat. (Herb. Kew as R. Btiergeri Miquel). Cultivated: Hort. Standish (Herb. Kew, type of Bot. Mag. t. 4728). Arnold Arboretum, May 29, 1884, May 24, 1902 (Nos. 862-1, 862-2). This Azalea, with its small, rich magenta-colored flowers, its small leaves and dense, twiggy habit, is too well known to need further description. It was first sent to England in 1850 or 1851 from Shanghai by Robert Fortune and was soon recognized as the most hardy of its clas§. It is generally assumed to be of Chinese ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 33 origin, but there is no evidence to support this view. On the contrary, I do not think there can be any doubt whatever that it is a Japanese plant and merely a color form of the Azalea so abundant on Nishi-Kirishima, Kyushu, hereunder de- scribed as f. japonicum. Moreover it is simply one of a race of charming Azaleas which for more than one hundred years have been grown and developed in the city of Kurume in the southern island of Kyushu, Japan, and is now becoming known as " Kurume Azaleas." The typical form of amoenum has hose-in-hose flowers and is known at Kurume under the name of " Kochonomai"; it is considered the hardiest of all. The single-flowered form, the f. normale of Maximowicz, is known and more especially around Tokyo, as '' Hatsu-giri." The pecuharity of the calyx becoming petaloid and forming a hose-in-hose flower is common to the whole race of " Kurume Azaleas " and is found in every one of the white and colored forms, and by selection and vegetative propagation it becomes fixed. The typical amoenum with hose-in-hose flowers was introduced into America by C. M. Hovey, Boston, Mass., in 1855 and soon established itself as a favorite exhibition plant. There are numerous named forms of this Azalea, and in 1879 Pynaert {Rev. Hori. Belg. V. 277), figures Azalea amoena "Mrs. Carmichael " and mentions five others that were in commerce. In recent years, at least, amoenum has been used in hybridizing with forms of R. Simsii and the result is a beautiful race of small-flowered, hose-in-hose Azaleas of which the well-known " Hexe " ("Firefly" of American gardens) is a familiar example. Near Boston amoenum is not entirely hardy but on Long Island and southward it is perfectly so. The wild form of the species is : — Rhododendron obtusum f. japonictun Wilson, n. comb. Rhododehdron indicum e. amoenum a. japonicum Maximowicz in Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Petershourg, s6r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 41 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). Rhododendron Kaempferi var. japonicum Rehder in Sargent, Trees and Shrubs, II. 30 (1907). — Schneider, III. Handb. Laubhohk. II. 505 (1911). Rhododendron indicum var. japonicum Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXII. 56 (1908). Rhododendron kiusianum Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXVII. 174 (1914); in Jour. Jap. Bot. I [173J fig. (1917). — Komatsu in /con. PL Koisikav. II. 95, t. 132 (1915); in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII [18] (1918). Rhododendron amoenum var. japonicum Bean, Trees and Shrubs Brit. Isl. II. 341 (1914). — Millais, Rhodod. 113 (1917). Rhododendron obtusum Miyazawa in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXII. [318] (1918), not Planchon. Japan: Kyushu, prov. Hizen, Wunzen (Mt. Onsen) near Naga- saki, 1863, C. Maximowicz (Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray); prov. Osumi, Kirishima-jinza, in a garden, October 1, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,957); Nishi-Kirishima, ait. 600-1600 m., May 5, 1918, E, H. Wilson (Nos. 10,329, 10,333); same locality, alt. 1300 m., March 10, 1914, E. H. Wilson (No. 6255); same locality, November 1, 1918, E, H, Wilson (Nos. 11,248, 11,250, 11,255 seeds only); same locality, June 1, 1916, S. Kawagoe; same locality, May 18, 1917, Z. Tashiro; same mountain, Makizono, May 4, 1918, B. Miyazawa; Kirishima-jinza, cultivated, plant said to have come from Mt. Kirishima, May 5, 1918, 34 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD E, H. Wilson (Nos. 10,327, flowers white). Hondo, prov. Settsu, cultivated round Osaka, May, 1918, E, H, Wilson (form " Hinode- giri") ; prov. Musashi, cultivated, Hatagaya, Hort. Oishi, May, 1914, E. H, Wilson (80 named forms of " Kurume Azaleas ")• Cultivated: Hort. J. S. Ames, 1920 (10 forms of "Kurume Azaleas"); Hort. Kew, May 17, 1909; Hort. Holm Lea, March, 1920 (50 forms "Kurume Azaleas"). This is the phylogenetic type of the race of small flowered Azaleas so plentiful in Japan and of which amoena, obtusa, and " Hinodegiri " are perhaps the best known in western gardens. It is especially abundant on the wind-swept slopes of Nishi-Kirishima, an active volcano in south Kyushu. It is found above the tree-level, growing among lava and in volcanic ashes with coarse grasses and mis- cellaneous low shrubs. At its lowest altitudinal range the leaves are persistent, but higher up they are deciduous. The plants are seldom a metre tall, more usually less than half of this, and quite commonly they are prostrate or hug boulders closely. The habit is normally dense and twiggy, but when sheltered a few strong shoots develop and the plant becomes relatively tall and sparsely branched. The leaves vary greatly in size according to altitude and exposure and are smallest on the plants which annually shed their foliage. On an average plant the spring leaves are oval to elliptic-ovate, from 1 to 2 cm. long and from 0.5 to 1 cm. wide, but they may be smaller or larger. The upper surface is bright green and the under usually pallid. The summer leaves are darker, more coriaceous and from oblanceolate to obovate in shape, with the mucronate apex rounded or acute. Normally the leaves are tufted at the ends of the twigs, but on free-growing shoots they are scattered; both shoots and leaves are clad with appressed, pale gray to yellowish, straight hairs. The flowers vary a httle in size, in degree of fragrance, and greatly in color; the most common shades are rosy mauve to magenta, but salmon and salmon-red are plentiful; pink, scarlet and crimson are rather rare. Plants bearing white flowers are occasionally found. It is very floriferous; each twig terminates in a flower-bud, often in a cluster of from three to five, and from each one to three flowers develop in the spring. The bud-scales are dry, nowhere glandular, and are ciliated with pale gray hairs. The calyx is usually well developed with green, oval to nearly orbicular, ciliate lobes; sometimes it is quite small. The corolla lobes may be rounded or pointed and the stamens may be shorter or longer than the corolla; the anthers vary in color from pale yellow-brown to deep magenta, this being correlated with the color of the flowers. The capsule is variable in size and the calyx-lobes are persistent. From the above facts is it apparent that this plant is responsive to varying ecological conditions and that its extreme forms present a very different appear- ance. This is indeed true, nevertheless this form is well marked and, except that there is no definite demarkation between it and the variety Kaempferij presents no difliculty unless an attempt be made to subdivide it. This I find impossible to do, and fortunately it is not necessary, since all the color forms have received names in gardens and may be classed under the general title of " Kurume Azaleas," from a town in Kyushu where much attention has been paid to their cultivation and development. The type of this form came from Mt. Onsen, a volcano not far from Nagasaki, but I do not know whether it is plentiful there. It also grows on other Kyushu mountains. On Kirishima it is abundant and when in flower forms sheets of color on the bare or grass-clad, bleak slopes and is strikingly attractive. Mt. Kirishima, of ENUMERATION OP THE SPECIES 35 which there are two principal peaks, Nishi and Higashi, is a sacred mountain cele- brated in Japanese mythology. It was on Nishi-Kirishima that the god Ninigi, grandson of the sun-goddess Amaterasu, alighted when he came down from heaven to pave the way for the conquest of Japan. A bronze sword, fixed in the ground, hilt upward, crowns the peak and is considered to be a reUc of this divinity. To a place so sacred pilgrimages have been made by the Japanese from time immemo- rial. With their profound love for flowers some of the pilgrims would certainly take back as a souvenir living plants of this charming Azalea. Naturally it was named for the mountain, and in the course of time was distributed widely in the gardens of Japan. It is easily understood that a plant bearing flowers of an un- usual color would be that selected as a souvenir by the average pilgrim. It is such forms that reached gardens first, and so we find the red ohtusa the magenta amoena, the white alba to be the earUest known. In the autumn of 1918 I collected a quan- tity of seeds on Nishi-Kirishima for the Arnold Arboretum. These have been widely distributed, and it will be interesting to watch the range of variation in the habit foUage and flowers of resultant plants. I fear, however, that they will not prove so hardy as the var. Kaempferi, but that they will find a welcome in gardens I am quite sure. On visiting Nishi-Kirishima, where between 650 and 1500 m. altitude this form japonicum grows in great abundance, and after seeing the wide range of color among the flowers, I am absolutely convinced that this Azalea is the wild parent of the race known as " Kurume Azaleas." The plant {R. ohtusum Planch.) which, following International Rules, has to do duty as type of this species, also belongs to this race, and of it too there is a hose-in-hose form known as " Yayehiryu " in Kurume. Another of these Azaleas which in recent years has become widely known is the brilliant red-flowered " Hinodegiri." Curiously this form so abundant in Tokyo and Osaka gardens is to-day not grown at Kurume. But good as the forms named above are, they are surpassed by many hardly known in western gardens, and in fact scarcely known in Japan outside of Kurume and a narrow circle of enthusiasts. Millais in his Rhododendrons makes the first reference to the race in a European publication. I first became acquainted with "Kurume Azaleas" in 1914, when at the invitation of Mr. H. Suzuki of the Yokohama Nursery Company and a foremost Japanese horticulturist, I accompanied him on a visit to the nursery district at Hatagaya, a few miles north of Tokyo. There, in the garden of Mr. Oishi, I saw thousands of tiny plants bearing white and colored flowers of nearly every hue. I secured a set of fragments and dried them for our herbarium, and later, in 1916, at my suggestion Mr. John S. Ames, North Easton, Mass., piu-- chased a selection of living plants from Mr. Oishi's collection. These arrived in thespringof 1917andwerethefir8t " Kurume Azaleas" introduced into easternNorth America. In May, 1917, I saw in the Yokohama Nursery a few large plants of " Kurume Azaleas," trained into umbrella-shape, in full flower and this decided me to visit the place of their origin. This became possible in the spring of 1918 and I was fortunate to have as a companion my friend Mr. H. Suzuki. Kurume is some 800 miles south by west from Tokyo and is quite an important city, but the fame of its Azaleas is likely to make it better known in the near future. The Azaleas are grown in a number of gardens and nurseries, but the oldest and best collection is that of Mr. Kijiro Akashi. This fine old gardener has for more than forty years devoted himself to the development of this race of Azaleas and has raised from seeds and perpetuated by cuttings nearly all the forms in cultivation. Mr. Akashi gave me the history of the race, and it seems that it originated about one hundred years ago with a gentleman named Motozo Sakamoto, who lived at Kurume. The parents came from sacred Mt. Kirishima, but whether brought from there by Sakamoto himself or given to him by some pilgrim is uncertain. At any rate, 36 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD Sakamoto cultivated several kinds and raised and selected seedlings, including one he named " Azuma-kagami," from which it is claimed all the pink-flowered forms have descended. After the death of Mr. Sakamt>to his collection passed into the possession of Akashi with the result above stated. The original plant of " Azuma- kagami " is still healthy, and I tried but without success to induce Mr. Akashi to part with it. Japanese experts recognize by name more than 250 kinds of Kurume Azaleas, but the differences are often infinitesimal. I made a selection of fifty kinds in duplicate which the following year (1919) safely reached the Arnold Arboretum. The two leading experts, Messers Akashi and Kuwano, at my suggestion selected the following six as the pick of them all: — " Takasago " (pale pink, hose-in-hose), " Azuma Kagami " (deep pink, hose-in-hose), " Kirin " (deep rose shading to silvery- rose, hose-in-hose), ''Kumo No Uye" (pure salmon), "Kurai No Himo" (car- mine, hose-in-hose), "Kureno Yuki" (white, hose-in-hose). My companion and I concurred, but had the number been twenty the task would have been much easier. To my mind the * * Kurume Azaleas ' ' are the loveliest of all Azaleas. The colors are so pure and exquisite and of every hue and shade from white, pink and salmon to scarlet, crimson and the richest magenta. Many of them are delicately fragrant. The hose-in-hose forms have none of the ugly features of double flowers, but on the contrary they are singularly attractive and the flowers last longer. The stamens, always five, are straight, exserted or included and the anthers vary in color from pale yellow-brown to blackish crimson; the color of the corolla and that of the anthers being correlated. The plants are often trained as low standards with a compact umbrella-shaped crown; less commonly they are dense and globose, or open and irregular in form. They are extremely floriferous, and in season the blos- soms often completely hide the leaves. The leaves are of course dimorphic, but apart from this they vary considerably in size, in their shades of green, in their autumn-coloring and in their degree of persistence. In a great measure these variations are correlated with the color of the flowers, and experts in Japan can with ease distinguish each variety by its foliage and general appearance. It is strange that a race so rich in forms and of such decorative value should have remained un- known to us until now. Yet the explanation is simple. Interior Kyushu is little known to the western world, and even to those Japanese whose home is on the other islands. The feudal system of government which until comparatively recently obtained in Japan created and preserved this aloofness. Further, Kurume is remote from the horticultural centres of Osaka and Yokohama, from whence we have drawn the bulk of our garden plants and where a business is made of growing for export. Nagasaki is much nearer, but in the days of Thunberg and Siebold, Veitch, Maximowicz and Fortune intercommunication was difficult, and for for- eigners impossible. And so it has resulted that the product of Sakamoto's hobby richly developed by Akashi has remained hidden from the outside world until now. During the last decade the fame of the Kurume Azaleas has reached Osaka, Tokyo and other places, and growers have obtained stocks and are propagating them apace. Unfortunately every grower and enthusiast names the plants accord- ing to his fancy and the result in a few years will ' be chaos. And this is helped by the fact that every slight sport or variant is kept and named and no attempt at selection made. I do not see how it is possible to improve upon the strain grown in Kurume unless yellow could be injected. What is needed is rigorous selec- tion and the reduction of the named forms to fifty or less. In the past seedling selection and preservation of sports by vegetative propagation have been the sole means employed in the evolution of the race of "Kunune Azaleas," but now attempts at hybridising them with the large flowered " Indian " and " ledifolia " types are in progress. This may result in a new race, but whether it will be as lovely and ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 37 fascinating as the present one is doubtful. In the matter of their origin Mr. Akashi was careful to inform me that for purposes of policy he had not before set forth the facts so clearly and that more or less distorted versions had appeared in print in Japan. To test the story for ourselves Mr. Suzuki and I on leaving Kurume visited and ascended Nishi-Kirishima and were convinced. In the garden of Mr. Akashi I selected and obtained a double set of the under- mentioned fifty varieties of these Azaleas which I consider the best, and these safely reached the Arnold Arboretum on April 24, 1919. The names are those of the originator, Akashi, and therefore authentic. The plants will be propa- gated and distributed under these names and, owing to the reprehensible habit of changing names by Japanese nurserymen, will probably remain the only set with standard names in existence. No. 1. Seikai flowers white, hose-in-hose 2. KuRENO YuKi flowers white, hose-in-hose 3. Shin Seikai flowers creamy white, hose-in-hose 4. YoROzuYO ....... flowers white 6. Nani Wagata flowers white, suffused with salmon-pink 6. Tancho flowers flesh-color, hose-in-hose 7. Hachika Tsuqi flowers white, suffused with lavender 8. Irohayama flowers white, margined with pale lavender 9. Ho5 flowers white, tinged with pink 10. SuiyOhi flowers flesh-color 11. Takasago flowers pale pink, the color of apple-blossoms 12. Kasumi Gaseki flowers pale pink 13. BijiNSUi flowers pale pink 14. AsAGASUMi flowers rose-pink, hose-in-hose 15. KiMiGAYO flowers pink 16. AzuMA Kagami flowers deep pink, hose-in-hose 17. OsARAKU . flowers white, suffused and margined with lavender 18. Otome flowers blush pink 19. Aya Kammuri flowers rose-color 20. Shintoki No Hagabane flowers rose, shading to pink, hose-in-hose 21. Saotome flowers rose-color 22. KiRiN flowers deep rose, shading to silvery rose 23. Tamafdyo flowers white, striped peach-color 24. KiRiTsuBO flowers rosy mauve 25. Omoine flowers pale lavender 26. OiNo Mezame flowers deep rose-color 27. Katsura No Hana . . . flowers rose-color* 28. Shin Utena flowers pale salmon 29. KuMO No Uye flowers pure salmon 30. Benifude flowers salmon 31. SuGA No Ito flowers pure pink 32. Kasane Kagaribi .... flowers dull saJmon-red 33. TsuTA MoMiji flowers bright red 34. Suetsumu flowers crimson 35. Fudesute Yama flowers light red 36. Ima Shojo flowers bright red, hose-in-hose 37. Rash5 Mon flowers scarlet 38. Waka Kayede ...... flowers red 39. Yayehiryu flowers bright scarlet, hose-in-hose 38 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD 40. KuRAi No HiMO flowers carmine, hose-in-hose 41. Agemaki flowers carmine 42. HiNODEGiRi flowers bright crimson 43. Aioi flowers color of almond-blossoms, hose-in- hose 44. Sakura TsuKASA flowers rosy mauve 45. Tama No Utena flowers pale salmon 46. GosHO Zakura flowers white, striped peach-color 47. Uk AMUSE flowers vermilion, hose-in-hose 48. HiNODE No Taka .... flowers crimson ' 49. OsARAKU Seedling . . . flowers white, suffused and margined with lavender 50. Hana Asobi flowers red Rhododendron obtusum var. Eaempferi Wilson, n. comb. Azalea indica Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 84 (1784), in part^ not Linnaeus. Rhododendron Kaempferi Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 77 (1854); in Rev» Hart. 1854. — Rehder in Sargent, Trees and Shrubs, II. 29, t. 113 (1907), flowers here represented with more than 5 stamens; in Bailey, Stand: Cycl. Hort. V. 2944, fig. 3393 (1916). — Schneider, lU. Handb. Laubhohk. II. 505, fig. 331 g-k (1911). — Bean, Trees and Shrubs Brit. Isl. II. 363 (1914). — Millais, Rhodod. 197, fig. (1917). — Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [16] (1918). Rhododendron Sieboldii Miquel in Ann. Mv^. Lugd.-Bat. I. 33 (1863), exclud- ing varieties; in II. 164 (1865-66); Prol. Fl. Jap. 96 (1866-67). Azalea Kaempferi Andr6 in Belg. Hort. XV. 184 (1865). ' Rhododendron indicum a. Kaempferi Maximowicz in Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Pitersbourg, s^r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 38 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). — Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. I. 291 (1875). — Matsumura, PI. Nikko, 71 (1894); Ind. PI. Jap. II. pt. 2, 460 (1912). — Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. For. i Jap. II. t. 61, figs. 1-10 (1908). ] Azalea Indica var. jK^oemp/en Rehder in Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. 1. 122 (1900); in Moller's Deutsch. Gdrtn.-Zeit. XVII. 417, figs. (1902). Rhododendron scabrum var. Kaempferi Nakai in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXIII. j 208 (1919). ! Rhododendron scabrum var. Kaempferi f. 2. latifolium Nakai in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXIII. 209 (1919). Rhododendron scabrum var. Kaempferi f. 3. tubiflorum Nakai in Tokyo Bot. \ Mag. XXXIII. 209 (1919). Komatsu in Icon. Koisikav. IV. 7, t. 216 (1918). Rhododendron scabrum var. Kaempferi f . 4. angustifolium Nakai in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXIII. 209 (1919). Komatsu in Icm. Koisikav. IV. 31, t. 228 (1918). Japan: Kyushu, prov. Osumi, Yaku-shima February 25, 1914, E. H. Wilson (No. 6082); Mt. Kirishima, western slopes, alt. 1000- 1500 m., March 8, 1914, E. H. Wilson (No. 6228) ; lower slopes of Nishi- Kirishima, alt. 600 m.. May 5, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,334); foothills round base of Nishi-Kirishima, sea-level to alt. 500 m., May 4, 1917, E. H. Wilson (Nos. 10,326, 10,330, 10,334); same general locality, April 29, 1917, Z. Tashiro; prov. Satsuma, Kagoshima, March 15, 1917, E. H. Wilson; same locality. May 6, 1918, E. H. ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 39 Wilson (No. 10,343); Togo, March 14, 1914, E, H, Wilson (No. 6278); prov. Hizen, Nagasaki, 1862, R, Oldham (Nos. 505, 507, 508, 607, Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray); same locality, A. C. Maingay (Nos. 872, 882, Herb. Kew); prov. Buzen, Kokura, April 20, 1903, U, Faurie, Shikoku, prov. Tosa, Osaki, June 5, 1889, K, Watanahe (Herb. Gray). Hondo, prov. Yamaguchi, near Onoda, June 17, 1918, E, H, Wilson (Nos. 10,379, 10,380, 10,381); between Habu and Asa, May 7, 1918, E, H. Wilson (No. 10,368A); round Ajisa, May 17, 1917, E, H. Wil- son (No. 8424); prov. Yamato, Yoshino, April 22, 1914, E, H, Wilson (No. 6575); prov. Shinano, above Narai, alt. 1100 m., September 3, 1905, J, G. Jack; without precise locality, 1864, Tschonoski (Herb. Kew); Togakushi-yama, July 9, 1884 (Herb. Kew); prov. Idzu, Oshima, March 30, 1917, July, 1918, E, H, Wilson (No. 8200); prov. Sagami, Hakone, May 12, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,365); Miya- noshita, August 24, 1892, C. S, Sargent; Kamakura, May 2, 1914, E. H, Wilson (No. 6610); prov. Musashi, Yokosuka, May, 1875, H. N. Moseley (Herb. Kew) ; Yokohama, 1862, C, Maximomcz (Herb. Kew); Mt. Takao, H, Takeda (No. 89, Herb. Kew); Mt. Mitake, May 19, 1907, K. Sakurai; prov. Shimotsuke, between Nikko and Lake Chuzenji, September 3, 1892, C. S, Sargent; in a garden at Umagaeshi, near Nikko, alt. 1000 m., June 4, 1914, E. H, Wilson (No. 6807); shores of Lake Chuzenji, November 3, 1892, C. S. Sar- gent; Nikko region, alt. 100-1500 m., May 16, 1914, E, H. Wilson (No. 6679); prov. Ugo, Akita, May 17, 1888, U, Faurie (No. 2128 Herb. Kew); Lake Towada, June 25, 1894, U. Faurie (No. 13,272); prov. Mutsu, Shichi-nobe, June 15, 1886, U. Faurie (No. 661) ; prov. unknown, Mt. Nagi, Mimasaka, May 8, 1903, S, Arimoto (Herb. Gray); without locaUty, 1866-74, L. Savatier (Herb. Kew, Herb. Bur. Sci. Manila). Hokkaido, prov. Oshima, Hakodate, C. Wright (Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray); same locality, July, 1859, C. Wilford (No. 1017, Herb. Kew); same locality, 1861, Af. AJbrecht (Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray) ; same locality, July 29, 1888, T. Tokvbuchi; prov. Iburi, Nobori-betsu, June 15, 1893, U, Faurie (No. 10,020, Herb. Kew); Chitose, June 12, 1889, T, Tokvbuchi; prov. Hidaka, T. Tokuhuchi; Samani-sando, June 19, 1884, K. Miyabe (Herb. Gray); prov. Ishi- kari, Sapporo, July 29, 1888, May 8, 1895, T. Tokuhuchi; same locality, October, 1891, K, Miyabe; same locality. May 24, 1903, S, Arimoto (Herb. Gray) ; ex Agricultural College, Sapporo, June 7, 1885. Cultivated: Arnold Arboretum (Nos. 3690, 3690-1, 3690-3, 3690-5, 3697). 40 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD This is the Mountain or Hill Azalea (Yama-tsutsuji) of Japan, where it is abund- ant from Yaku-shima in the extreme south to central Hokkaido in the north. Its altitudinal range is from sea^level to about 1600 m., though north of the Nikko region it is much less. In May and June by the wayside and on the hills and mountain-slopes it is most conspicuous with its wealth of brilliant red flowers. It grows among grasses and in thickets, also on the edge of forests and among the undergrowth in thin woods, but it is a sim-loving plant and is seen to best advantage in open thickets on mountain-slopes. The height is from 1 to 3 m., but averages from 1 to 1.5 m., and according to situation it may be densely or laxly branched and form either a broad or a narrow, twiggy bush. In the warmer parts of Japan all the summer leaves and often some of the large spring leaves are persistent, but in the colder parts they are both deciduous. The spring leaves vary in shape from lanceolate or lanceolate-ovate to elhptic, and in size from 1.5 to 6 cm. in length and from 0.8 to 3 cm. in width, and they may be either acute or obtuse; the summer leaves are elliptic to obovate in shape, as is usual in the group to which this plant belongs. The pubescence on the shoot, leaf, calyx, ovary and fruit varies in color from pale gray to rufous. Typically the color of the flowers is red, usually bright red, but it varies considerably and, excluding the forms to be mentioned later, may be any shade from flesh-color to bright red. In size the flowers vary some- what but average from 2.5 to 4 cm. across. The corolla-lobes are rounded or pointed. The calyx is normally well-developed and the lobes are green, ciliate and usually rounded, and from suborbicular to ellfptic or ovate in shape, and from 2 to 8 mm. long; usually they are from 2 to 4 mm. long and occasionally they are scarcely noticeable. The stamens may be included or exserted and this considerably affects the appearance of the flowers; the anthers vary in color from pale yellow-brown to blackish purple. The fruit is woody, erect, ovoid and from 0.6 to 1.5 cm. high, and when open the valves are recurved for about one-third their length. In its typical form this variety, with its relatively large clustered flowers each with five stamens, cannot be confused with anything else, but there are interme- diate forms which inextricably link it with R. ohtusum. The extremes look widely different, yet on analysis size alone remains, and in this there is every gradation both among the leaves and flowers. The degree of persistence of the leaves, which is dependent upon winter temperature and exposure, strongly affects the appearance of the plants. The leaves, flowers, genital organs and fruit vary in size, and the flowers, anthers and pubescence vary in color. Round the base of Nishi-Kirishima the typical red-flowered var. Kdempferi is plentiful; on the middle and upper slopes of the mountain the typical f . japonicum abounds. In my ascent of this moun- tain and after exhausting every means I could think of I failed completely to dis- cover where one variety ended and the other began. The transition was both gradual and complete. At my request my colleague, Alfred Rehder, has critically examined the mass of material in our possession and is in complete agreement as to the specific identity here set forth. I confess that I should much prefer to keep Kaempfer's Azalea as a species distinct from R. ohtiLsum, but the facts as I inter- pret them will not permit of this. Whether var. Kaempferi or the f . japonicum is best entitled to be considered the phylogenetic type of the species is difficult to determine, but the first named is much more widely distributed, and north of Hamamatsu, in prov. Totomi, central Hondo, is the only representative of the species. Kaempfer's Azalea was first introduced to the Occident by Professor Sargent, who sent seeds of it from the Nikko region and elsewhere in Japan to the Arnold Arboretum in the autumn of 1892, where plants flowered in May, 1897. It has proved both hardy and amenable to cultivation here, and in late May and early June of each year flowers abundantly, producing most vivid and spectacular floral ENUMERATION OP THE SPECIES 41 displays. The flowers last longer and are seen to best advantage When growing in the partial shade of conifers and other evergreen plants. In full sun the flowers bleach and fade more quickly. In the Arnold Arboretum the leaves are quite deciduous. This Azalea is the only kind with red flowers hardy in this Arboretum and is one of the most valuable exotic flowering plants ever brought into cultivation in eastern North America. A form with white flowers is: — Rhododendron obtusum var. Eaempf eri f . albiflonun Wikon, n. name. Rhododendron Kaempferi f. album Nakai in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIX. [261] (1915). Unknown to me and described in Japanese only. Presumably normal except for its white flowers but possibly the same as the f . monatrosum Wilson. A form with vari-colored flowers is: — Rhododendron obtusum var. E^aempferi f. multicolor Wilson, n. f. Japan: Hondo, prov. Yamaguchi, round Ajisu, May 17, 1917, E: H. Wilson (No. 8420 type, 8421, 8422, 8423, 8419, 8418, 9417, 8416); same locality, September 28, 1918, E, H. Wilson (No. 10,959 seeds only); between Habu and Asa, May 7, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,368); prov. Mikawa, round Futagawa, May 9, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,347). This form differs from Kaempfer's Azalea in its vari-colored flowers which range from pale pink, salmon or mauve to purple and magenta. Some of the shades are exquisite and scarcely two companion bushes have flowers of identical color. In size the flowers vary slightly, and those of No. 10,368 are from 1.5 to 2.5 cm. across and no larger than those of some plants of the f . japonicum. In fact this new form is the link connecting the var. Kaempferi with the wild f . japonicum. In certain localities this multi-colored form is abundant, as in those cited, and also round Tajimi, near the city of Nagoya, in province Owari. Curiously, where this form is plentiful the typical red-flowered Kaempferi is entirely absent or nearly so. The soil around Ajisu is rotten granite, round Tajimi and Futagawa gravel and brick clay; on the same formation and in the same general neighborhood Kaempfer's Azalea grows in great plenty. On Nishi-Kirishima, where the many- colored f . japonicum and the typical var. Kaempferi both grow, the soil is vol- canic ashes and detritus. It is plain, therefore, that soil has nothing to do with the variation in the color of the flowers, neither has altitude nor exposure. The cause would appear to be innate and not due to external conditions. I collected much seed of this new form from the neighborhood of Ajisu, and this has been distributed in England and in this country by the Arnold Arboretum, and many plants have been raised. If it should prove hardy this form may prove the forerunner of a new race of welcome colors among hardy Azaleas. A form with double flowers is: — Rhododendron obtusum var. Kaempferi f . plenum Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron Kaempferi var. plenum Nakai in Tokyo Bot, Afo^. XXIX. 1261] (1915). 42 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WOBLD Japan: Kyushu, prov. Chikugo, Koradai, near Kurume, April, 1918, K, Akashi; without locality. May, 1918, B, Miyazawa. In this plant the calyx is normal but the stamens and pistil are petaloid. Aka- shi^s specimen has rather small flowers salmon-red in color and is from a sponta- neous plant. Miyazawa^s is in size and color typical Kaempferi with double flowers. He told me this was also from a wild plant. A form with petaloid calyx forming hose-in-hose flowers and which also has been found wild is: — Rhododendron obtusum var. Kaempferi f. Komatsui Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron Kaempferi var. Komatsui Nakai in Tokyo BoL Mag. XXIX. [261] (1915). A form with monstrous flowers may be designated: — Rhododendron obtusum var. Kaempferi f. monstrostmi Wilson, n. f. Korea : prov. Keiki, cultivated, said to have come from Japan, Agricultural Experimental Station, Suigen, May 24, 1917, E. H, Wilson (No. 8482). In this curious plant the corolla is white and has a petaloid caljrx, the pistil is abnormal and in most flowers is changed to a staminode, the stigma being changed to a swollen, abortive anther which is often conspicuously aristate. The flowers though hose-in-hose are as large as those of ordinary Kaempferi. Possibly this is the same as Nakai's f . album. A form with abortive or nearly abortive corolla is: — | Rhododendron obtusum var. Elaempferi f . ci3rptopetalum Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron ledifolium S. cryptopetalum Maximowicz in MSm. Acad. Set, St. Pitersb(mrg, s^r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 36 (Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870).— Matsu- mura, Ind. PL Jap. II. pt. 2, 462 (1912). Rhododendron Kaempferi f . T. Kinshibe Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [43] (1918). Japan: Hondo, prov. Kawachi, Yamomoto, cultivated, May 8, 1918, E, H. Wilson; prov. Musashi, Hatagaya, cultivated, April 29, 1914, E, H, Wilson (No. 6593). This is a monstrous form long cultivated in Japanese gardens under the name of " Kinshibe-tsutsuji." The corolla may be entirely suppressed or represented by from 1 to 5 deeply laciniate, strap-shaped lobes. The stamens vary from 5 to 10 (usually 7 to 10) ; the filaments are variable in length, often curled, bright crimson in color, and may be either normal in shape or slightly flattened and petaloid; the anthers are yellow. It has no garden value, being simply a curiosity. As to its specific identity there can be no question, and I am at a loss to understand why Maximowicz referred it to R. ledifolium (R. mucronatum G. Don). 1 ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 4S A form with purple flowers and from 5 to 10 stamens is: — Rhododendron obtusum var. Kaempferi f. mikawanum Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron indicum var. mikawanum Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIII. 251 (1909). Rhododendron Kaempferi var. mikawanum Makino in Jour. Jap. Bot. I. 18 (1917). — Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [37) (1918). Rhododendron purpureum Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII. [16] (1918). Rhododendron poukhanense Komatsu I. c. [12] (1918), as to the Japanese plant, not L4veill4. Rhododendron poukhanense f. ohtusifolium Komatsu I. e. [37] (1918). Rhododendron poukhanense f. acuiifolium Komatsu I. c. [38] (1918). Rhododendron scabrum Nakai in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXIII. 207 (1919), not G. Don. Rhododendron scabrum var. Kaempferif f. 1. purpureum Nakai l. c. 208. Japan : Hondo, prov. Suruga, near Ashitake-yama, lower slopes of Mt. Fuji, June 20, 1918, H, Suzuki; prov. Musashi, Ome, near Tokyo,. May 31, 1918, E, H. WiUon. This is a form of the common Mountain Azalea of Japan having purple flowers and from 5 to 10 stamens. It is found here and there mixed with the type and is occasionally cultivated, being known as the " Murasaki Yama-tsutsuji " (Purple Hill Azalea). It is in cultivation in the Arnold Arboretum from plants I brought from Japa^ jn the spring of 1919. The increase in the number of stamens is in- teresting, and is another instance of the extraordinary range of variation which obtains in R. obtusum. In Tokyo I saw specimens from Hangno which Komatsu- refers to R. poukhanense, but it is not that species and I could find no character by which to separate them from Makino's variety. The material was collected on the Chichibu Mountains in the western part of Musashi province. It has flowers in pairs, red-purple in color, with dark purple anthers; the leaves are rather long, lanceolate and glabrescent, and the pedicels and calyx are clothed with gray pubes- cence. Komatsu's R. purpureum is based on a specimen collected in Yumato prov- ince. It has the foliage of tjrpical var. Kaempferiy pale rose-purple colored flowers each with from 7 to 10 stamens; the calyx-lobes are lanceolate, acuminate and erose. Nakai in the Tokyo Bot. Mag. (XXXIII. 207 [1919]) identified this plant with R. scabrum G. Don. I do not imderstand how he arrived at this conclusion unless he was guided solely by the color of the flowers. This f . mikauxinum never has flowers 3 inches in diameter, which is the size given by G. Don, neither are the leaves coriaceous. It seems to me that the plant described by G. Don as R. scabrum is that which Miquel later described as R. sublanceolatum; from the description I do not see how it can have anything to do with R. obtusum var. Kaempferi or any of its forms. A hybrid race with richly colored flowers of small to medium size is: — X Rhododendron Sanderi Wilson, n. hyb. Rhododendron Simsii ** Garnet " x R. obtusum Planchon. This is an interesting and valuable race that has been raised and developed at Hohn Lea, Brookline, the home of Professor C. S. Sargent. About thirty-five years 44 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD ago the gardener, Charles Sander, collected seeds from the Holm Lea collection of "Indian Azaleas' ' and from them raised many plants. Among these when they flowered were two of dwarf, compact habit which produced relatively small flowers (3 cm. diam.) carmine-red or crimson-lake in color. In the Holm Lea collection was the well-known "Indian Azalea Decora" of European origin and introduced into the garden of Marshall P. Wilder, Dorchester, Mass., about 1847. It is highly probable that this was the parent of the two Azaleas above mentioned. The best of these two Sander named " Garnet." This he crossed with an unknown Azalea having small red flowers obtained from M. Atkinson, gardener for Mr. John L. Gard- ner, Brookline, Mass., which to-day Sander thinks was R, ohtusum Planch. After a close study of the race I think this conclusion is correct. The best of the hybrids from the above parents were crossed with R. ohtusum f. album Schneid. and gave rise to forms with rose-pink flowers. In more recent years the well-known " Hino- degiri " has been used with excellent results. The outcome of some three decade^ of hybridising, selecti^g and recrossing is a race of beautiful Azaleas of compact twiggy habit with flowers from 2.5 to 4.5 cm. in diameter in varying shades of rose-pink, salmon, red, scarlet and fiery crimson. Among the scarlet and crimsons are deeper and richer shades than I have seen among any of the Azaleas of China and Japan. The influence of R. Simsii forms is seen in the number of stamens, which varies from 5 to 10 and is inconstant on the same individual; also in the size of the flowers and in the ease with which the plants may be forced into blossom during the winter and early spring months. Some of the forms have flowers no larger than those of R. obhisum, though in the majority the flowers exceed in size those of that plant. The race is singularly attractive and highly ornamental, and it needs no expert knowledge to predict for x R. Sanderi a great future. Among the best forms are " Suzuki," scarlet maroon, " Hebe," white with rose-red stripe, " Hermione," deep salmon-red, *' Ruby " crimson maroon, " Uncaa," dark scarlet, " Helena," rose-pink, " Hilda Hedlund," deep pink, " Holm Lea," crimson- maroon, *' Vulcan," salmon-red, " Natalie," salmon, " Muriel," rose-red, " Alice Sargent," bright salmon-red, ** Rose Queen," deep rose, " Havemeyer," rose-red, " Brookline," carmine, " Venus," cerise, " Jupiter," fiery-red, " Mars," intense scarlet, " Vivid," scarlet. To this group must be referred the highly appre- ciated and well-known Azalea "Hexe"^ or "Firefly" of American gardens, which is a hybrid between R. ohtusum f. amoenum and R. Simsii "Due de Nassau." This favorite Azalea with rich red, hose-in-hose flowers was raised by Otto Forster, Lebenhof, near Scheibbs, Lower Austria, about 1885, and was first exten- sively cultivated round Dresden. At first it was not particularly esteemed and was used as a stock on which to graft the ordinary "Indian Azaleas" of commerce; later it became one of the most popular varieties, and before the Great War was imported in hundreds of thousands into this country for decorative purposes. It roots freely from cuttings and flowers profusely when quite small. One of its parents. Azalea " Due de Nassau," is an old variety, having been exhibited in London in June, 1862, by Charles Turner of Slough. There are several other hose-in-hose Azaleas of much the same parentage as " Hexe." One of these, " Vuylestekeana," has been crossed at Holm Lea with " Flambeau," a French vari- ety, with crimson-maroon flowers of medium size. The result is a race with relati- vely large (4 to 6 cm. diam.), hose-in-hose flowers varying in color from intense scarlet to crimson-maroon, and perhaps the most highly colored of all Azaleas. * Azalea indica (Hexe) Ad. Vanden Heede in Rev. Hort. Belg. XXXI. 49, t. (1905). Azalea Hexe Hort. ex W. Watson, Rhodod. and Azaleas, 67 (1911). Rhododendron indicum Hexe Millais, Rhodod. 193 (1917). ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 45 Rhododendron Simsii Planchon in Fl. des Serr, IX. 78 (1854); in Rev. Hort. 1854, 47. — Schneider, III. Handh. Lauhholzk. II. 506, figs. 331 1-m, 332 a-d (1911). — Rehder in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hort V. 2944 (1916). Azalea indica Alton, Hort. Kew, ed. 2, 318 (1810), as to the plant, not Linnaeus.— Sims in Bot. Mag. XXXVI. t. 1480 (1812). — Bentham, Fl. Hongk. 201 (1861), as to the Hongkong plant. Azalea indica a. punicea Sweet, Hort. Brit. 264 (1827). Rhododendron indicum var. ignescens Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 2, II. t. 128 (1832). — Rehder & Wilson in Sargent, PI. Wilson. II. 547 (1913). Rhododendron indicum a. puniceum Sweet in Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 2, II. sub. t. 128 (1832). Azalea indica ignescens Hovey, Mag. Hort. III. 72 (1837). Rhododendron Calleryi Planchon in Fl. des Serr. IX. 81 (1854); in Rev. Hort, 1854, 66. Rhododendron indicum /3. Simsii Maximowicz in Mim. Acad. Sci. St. PiterS" hourg, s^r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 38 {Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). — Franchet in Nmiv. Arch. Mus. Paris, ser. 2. VI. 77 (1883); PI. David I. 97 (1884); in BuU. Soc. Bot. France, XXXIII. 235 (1886). Rhododendron indicum Hemsley in Jour. Linn. Soc. XXVI. 25 (1889), as to the Chinese plant, not Sweet. — Diels in Bot. Jahrh. XXIX. 514 (1900); in Notes Bot. Gard. Edinburgh, VII. 392 (PI, Chin. Forrest.) (1913). — Pam- panini in Nuov. Giom. Bot. Ital. n. ser. XVIII. 131 (1911). — W. Watson, Rhodod. & Azaleas, 79 (1911), in part. — Dunn & Tutcher in Kew BuU. Misc. Inform, add. ser. X. 155 (Fl. Kwangtung and Hongk.) (1914). — Millais, Rhodod. 189 (1917), in part. Azales indica var. Simsii Rehder in Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. I. 122 (1900). Rhododendron ir^icum var. Matsumura in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XIV. 69 (1900). Rhododendron indicum var. Tamurai Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XVIII. 102, fig. (1904). Rhododendron indicum y. macranthum sub var. genuinum forma Tamurai Ma- kino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXIV. 77 (1910). Rhododendron indicum var. formosanum Hayata, Icon. PI. Formes. III. 134 (1913). — Kanehira, Farmos. Trees, 321, fig. 9 (1917). China: Hongkong, Happy Valley, November 5, 1903, C. S. Sar- gent; without locality, J. G, Champion (Nos. 122, 123, Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray) ; without locality, C. Wright (No. 195, Herb. Gray, Herb. Kew); April 28, 1914, Mary Strong Clemens (No. 4261,. Herb. Bur. Sci. Manila), Kwantung, Canton, March 10, 1835, aS. W. Williams (Herb. Gray); same locality, October 27-30, 1916, March 20, 1917, C. 0. Levine (No. 438, 599, Herb. Bur. Sci. Manila); Shiuchow, April, 1919, To Rang P'eng (No. 2761, Herb; Bur. Sci. Manila). Chekiang, Pootoo Island, E. Faber; Ningpo, Ning-kan-jou, April 15, 1877, W. Hancock (No. 32, Herb. Kew); Mokan-shan, alt. 500 m. August 3, 1915, F. N. Meyer (No. 1607); without locaUty, 1845, jB. Fortune (Nos. 72, 152, 153, Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray); hills near Taihu Lake, April, 1881, W. R, Carles. Kiangsu, near Shanghai, I 46 THE AZALEAS OP THE OLD WORLD 1915, D. Macgregor. Kiangsi, Kuling, alt. 1600 m., July 28, 1907, E, H. Wilson (No. 1682); same locality, 1873, G. Shearer (Herb. Kew). Hunan, Yoku-shan, alt. 70-300 m., February 21, 1918, Dr, HandeUMazzetti (No. 480). Hupeh, north and south of Ichang, alt. 30-1300 m.. May and November, 1907, E, H, Wilson (No. 3474); same locality, A, Henry (Nos. 782, 1160, Herb. Kew, Herb. Gray); Changyang Hsien, thickets, alt. 1300 m.. May and November, 1907, E. H. Wilson (No. 3472); Changlo Hsien, cliffs, alt. 600-1300 m., May, 1907, E, H, Wilson (No. 3472*); Patung Hsien, A. Henry (No. 1416, Herb. Kew); Nanto and mountains to northward, A. Henry (No. 3194, Herb. Kew); Hsing-shan Hsien, alt. 1000-1800 m., May 14, December, 1907, E. H. Wilson (No. 569); " Kao-hien-scian," alt. 800 m.. May, 1907, C. Silvestri. Szech'uan, Chungking, 1885, F. S, A. Bourne (Herb. Kew); Kiating Fu, alt. 300-800 m.. May, 1908, E. H, Wilson (No. 3475); Mt. Omei, May, 1904, E. H. Wilson (Veitch Exped. No. 5143); without locality. A, von Rosthorn (No. 2148); Yunnan or Kueichou, 1911, A, Hosie (Herb. Kew). Yunnan, Menztsze, alt. 1500-2000 m., A. Henry (Nos. 9900^, 9900°, 9900^ Herb. Kew, Herb. Bur. Sci. Manila); same locality, alt. 1600-2300 m., April, 1893, W. Hancock (No. 155, Herb. Kew); Mil^, A. Henry (No. 9900^); " Momyen," June 3, 1868, D. J. Anderson (Herb. Kew); near Tali Fu, Tsang-chan, alt. 2500 m., J, M, Delavay (No. 1122, Herb. Kew); Tali Fu, alt. 2200-2600 m., cultivated, G. Forrest (No. 4173); " Ho-yeh-shui," north end of Lichiang Valley, alt. 2900 m., ; cultivated by Mossoo natives. May, 1906, G. Forrest (No. 2282, Herb. Kew); without locality, G. Forrest (Nos. 7832, 11,824); 1910, /?. P. Maire (Nos. 3713, 3775, Herb. Bur. Sci. Manila). Formosa: prov. Koshun, South Cape, Schmuser ex A. Henry (No. 588 in part. Herb. Kew). Cultivated: " Jardin du Luxembourg, Orangerie, 14 avril, 1822, 27 avril, 1823 " ex Herb. J. Gay (Herb. Kew). This species grows in all the temperate parts of China and in south Formosa, and a variety {eriocarpum Wils.) on the Kawanabe Islands off Liukiu Oshima, but it has not been found in Japan or Korea. It is particularly abundant in the area of the Yangtsze Valley from near Ningpo to Mt. Omei in the far west. Hancock, on a specimen, states that " the Ningpo hills are absolutely crimson in places with this shrub "; the same is true of the Lushan hills round Kiukiang and of the region north and south of Ichang. It dehghts in rocky places, preferably cliffs, thin dry woods and thickets, blossoms profusely, and its wealth of red flowers makes it one of the most conspicuous of all shrubs. The habit is twiggy and much-branched with a maximum height of three metres, but averaging about half this height. The leaves are variable in size and with the shoots are clothed with appressed, ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIEB 47 strigose, gray to shining brown hairs. At low altitudes the leaves are compara- tively large, from Ismceolate to ovate-elliptic, and are all persistent; at its upper altitudinal limit the leaves are much reduced in size, and nearly all fall off in the late autumn. The leaves immediately below the winterbuds are small, relatively thick, obovate to oblanceolate and more persistent than the other form of leaves. The flowers are clustered, from two to six together, at the end of the shoots and all I have seen are fairly uniform in color. The corolla is broad-funnel shape, varying in color from rose-red through bright to dark red. The calyx varies from an inconspicuous rim to a length of 5 mm. ; the stamens are normally ten, rarely eight, never fewer, as long or nearly as long as the corolla but shorter than the style. In central China it is generally known as the " Yin-shan-hung." Millais says that Forrest states under Nos. 4173, 4173*, from plants cultivated by Chinese in the Tali Valley, that the color of the flowers is " rose to white." In China I have never seen wild an albino of this species; Forrest's No. 4173 in Herb. Kew is described as having rose-colored flowers. The Formosan specimen cited from A. Henry in .Herb. Kew represents Hayata*s var. formosanum, the type of which I have seen in Tokyo. It is indistinguishable from typical R. Simsii so abundant in China, but in Formosa known only from the extreme southern end of the island. For nearly a century and a quarter this plant has usurped the name indicwnif and in books is almost hopelessly confused with the true R. indicum Sweet, with R. ohtusum Planchon and its varieties, and with R. scabrum G. Don {R. svblanceolaium Miquel). The first mention of the Chinese plant I can find is in Macartney's Embassy to China, II. 524 (1797), where Azalea indica is recorded as collected in the provinces of Kiangsi and Canton (Kwangtung) in 1793. In all probability it is the Chinese species that was introduced into Kew " by the Hon. Court of Directors of the East India Company " in the ship " Cuffnels," Captain Wellbank (Aiton, Hori. Kew, ed. 2. 318 [1810]), though Aiton's description is of the true R. indicum Sweet. Sims was the first to figure the Chinese species {Bot. Mag. 1. 1480 [1812]) under the erroneous name of Azalea indica, and states that it was a rare plant in England and that the only one that had flowered was in the collection of James Vere, Esq. In the Kew Herbarimn there are two specimens from the Jardin du Luxembourg collected in 1822 and 1823. These are the oldest cultivated specimens I have seen. Sweet in 1832 gave it a varietal name, and says that the plant was imported in the East India Company's ship " Orwell " from China by Mr. Tate. This Mr. Tate was a nurseryman in Sloane Square, London, and the master of the ship " Orwell " was Captain Farrer, who brought a number of Chinese plants including other Azaleas to England and handed them over to Tate. In Braam's Icones plantarum, issued in 1818, there is a figure (t. 27) of a red-flowered Azalea. The drawing is very crude and, while it probably is meant for R. Simsii, it might represent any Azalea with red flowers. The Chinese Azalea appears to have remained rare in the Occident for several decades. In 1837, under the name of Azalea indica ignescens, it w&s cultivated in America by Marshall P. Wilder, Dorchester, Mass. Fortune, from 1843 to 1856, introduced into England from Chinese gardens many Azaleas of different kinds, and these gave great impetus to the cultivation of these ornamental plants. The 80-caUed " Indian Azaleas " of western gardens have been originated almost en- tirely from R. Simsii since about 1850, chiefly in Belgiiun, but some in France and others in Germany. There is a very considerable literatiwe on "Indian Azaleas" and at least one illustrated book {Iconographie AzaUes de Ulnde by Auguste van Geert, published in 1882). Planchon (in Fl des Serr. IX. 77 [1854]) gives a brief history of them, and enumerates varieties in the collections of M. Margottin, M. Delessert, and M. Michel. Some of them were forms of the true R. indicum, others of R. phoe- 48 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD niceum, and a few of R. Simsii; several are recorded as presumed hybrids between R. phoeniceum and R, ledifolium {R. mucronatum G. Don) and between R. phoeni- ceum and R. Danielsianum (R. indicum Sweet) but such hybrids are unknown to-day and probably never existed. In La Belgique Horticole for 1865 (XV. pp. 174-192), there is an excellent article by M. fidouard Andr6 with a list of vari- eties and the names of the originators. In the various volumes of Flore des Serves are many colored figures and notes chiefly by Louis van Houtte. In f&ct in all garden periodicals from about 1850 on, there are many references and figures of these plants. However, scientific exactness is wanting and much of their early beginnings is obscure. As far as I can discover the introduction into England of the striped-flowered Azalea vittata by Fortune in 1850 or 1851 led to the raising of seedlings. Further impetus was given by the advent the same years of A. vittata Bealii with red and white striped flowers. Many of the best varieties are branch sports perpetuated by grafting. From the crossing of red and white flowered varie- ties many variegated forms have originated. One of the most successful breeders of " Indian Azaleas " of commerce was Mr. Joseph Vervaene of Ghent, whose work is fittingly commemorated by the lovely Azaleas " Vervaeniana," and " Vervaeniana alba.'' Other names immutably connected with the raising and perfecting of ,the ** Indian Azaleas " of commerce are Messers Knight & Perry, Ivery and Rollisson in England; L. E^eckhaute, Haerens, Van Houtte, Van Geert, A. VerschafiFelt, J. de Kneep and Van der Cruyssen in Belgium; Lesebe, Truffaut, H. de May and Mabire in France; Messers Schulz, E. Liebig, Seidel and Rose in Germany. The varieties are legion, and each year adds materially to the number. All the modem ones have been raised in Belgium or Germany, where they are cultivated by the millions and exported to almost all parts of the world. Prior to 1914 more than two and a half million plants were annually exported from Belgium alone. In Germany a Eurhododendron (Cunningham's White) is muoh used as a stock for these " Indian Azaleas," but not in Belgium, where R. pfioeniceum and its f . can^ dnnum are chiefly so employed. According to J. Breck (in The Horticulturist^ I. 512 [1847]), Marshall P. Wilder imported from Germany by way of England and cultivated in his garden in Dorchester, Mass., in 1847, Azalea '' Optima" with dark scarlet flowers, Azalea ''Prince Albert" with scarlet flowers, and Azalea ''Alba Insignis" with large white flowers. The first two were undoubtedly derivatives of R. Simsii and representatives of the " Indian Azaleas " of to-day, and the first intro- duced into America so far as I can discover. The third was probably a form of R. mucronatum. Hovey (Mag. Hort. XIV. 284 [1848]) records that on May 13, 1848, Mar^all P. Wilder exhibited before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Azalea " Decora," another Indian Azalea. A plant of this was acquired by Ignatius Sargent, and its descendants are still in the Holm Lea collection. Among the typical large-flowered forms of '* Indian Azaleas" of to-day I can de- tect no influence of any species other than R. Simsii, though without question R. phoeniceum and its forms have been used. Those with smaller flowers, especially the hose-in-hose kinds like " Hexe " and " Vuylstekeana," are without doubt hybrids between forms of R. Simsii and R. obtuMim f. am^enum. It is probable also that typical JR. ohtusum has been employed. R. mucronatum and numerous named forms of it are loosely designated Azalea indica, but in the evolution of the "Indian Azalea" of present-day gardens neither this species nor the true A. indica of Linnaeus have had any part. Rhododendron Simsii var. vittatum Wilson, n. comb. Azalea vittata Fortune, Tea Districts of China, 330 (1852). Azalea indica vittata Van Houtte in Fl. des Serr. IX. t. &86 (1854). — Millais, Rhodod. 259 (1917). ENUMERATION CF THE SPECIES 49 Azalea indica vUtata punctata Van Houtte in Fl. des Sen. IX. t. 888 (1854). Rhododendron mttatum Planchon in Fi dea Serr. IX. 82 (1854) ; in Rev. Hort. 1854, 66. — Maximowicz in M&m. Acad. Sci. St. PStersbourg, s^r. 7, XVI. No. 9, 49 {Rhodod. As. Or.) (1870). — Millais, Rhodod. 259 (1917). Rhododendron vittatum var. b. punctata Planchon, in Fl. des Serr. IX. 82 (1854) ; in Rev. Hort. 1854, 66. Azalea vittato-punctata Lemaire in III. Hort. I. t. 20 (1854). Cultivated: Hort. Holm Lea, May 20, 1918, A. Rehder; Hort. Berckmans, Augusta, Georgia, March 30, 1908, C. S, Sargent, This variety has larger calyx-lobes than is usual in the species, but I have wild specimens of the type with an equally large calyx. The most prominent distin- guishing feature is the color of the flowers. This is white, striped with lilac-purple, often irregulariy so; sometimes the flowers are pure white or pure lilac-purple on the same branch, occasionally they are dotted or blotched with color. Planchon says it has been in possession of M. Paillet since 1844, and then adds that it was one of Fortune's introductions to England. Now Fortune did not land in China until July, 1843, so it would seem that there was something wrong with Planchon's date or that it was introduced before Fortune's first visit. In all probability the date is wrong. According to Fortune's account in his Tea Districts of China it was in April, 1850, that he visited the Pou-shan gardens near Shanghai and saw this Azalea in flower. However, he had been to these gardens on his first visit to China (1843-45), but if he sent this variety of Azalea to England on that occasion there is no available record of the fact. In all probability M. Paillet's plant was B. indicum var. variegcUum. Fortune's plant did not reach England before 1850 or 1851 so far as I can discover, and its acquisition according to the books led to the raising of many seedlings. According to Hovey {Mag. Hort. XXI. 301 [1855]) an Azalea viUata rosea was exhibited for the first time in Philadelphia on April 17, 1855, by Mr. Buist. It has long been grown in the Berclonans Nurseries, Augusta, Georgia, and in the collection at Holm Lea. The type appears to have been lost to English gardens until recently, when Professor Sargent sent it to Kew and elsewhere. A form in which the flowers are striped with red is : — Rhododendron Simsii var. vittatum f. Bealii Wilson, n. comb. Azalea Bealii Fortune, Tea Districts of Chinas 330 (1852). — Lemaire in lU. Hort. 1. 1. 8 (1854). Rhododendron vittatum var. g. Bealii Hort. apud Planchon in FU des Serr. IX. 82 (1854); in Rev. Hort. 1854, 66. Azalea vittata Bealii Morren in Belg. Hort. XVI. 1, t. (1866). This is another of Fortune's introductions to Messers Standish & Noble of Sunningdale Nurseries from Pou-shan gardens, Shanghai, in 1850 or 1851, and is characterised by its white flowers striped with red. This plant also has been a useful parent in the evolution of the present-day race of "Indian Azaleas," as shown by the variety " Fttrstin Baro Trysky," for example. It was imported into America by C. M. Hovey, Boston, Mass., in 1855. A variety with white to rose-colored flowers and geographically widely removed from the type is: — Rhododendron Simsii var. eriocarpmn Wilson, n. comb. Rhododendron indicum var. eriocarpum Hayata, Icon. PL Formos. III. 134 (1913). 50 THE AZALEAS OF THE OLD WORLD Japan : Kawanabe Islands, Suwanose-shima, May, 1917, H, Ushiwo (No. 1*); Takara-shima, May 4, 1917, H. Ushiwo (No. 1^, 1*); Taira- shima, May, 1917, H. Ushiwo (No. 1^). These specimens were collected for me by Forestry-officer Ushiwo by courtesy of Dr. Naito, chief of the Kagoshima forestry bureau, and are excellent, though unfortunately unaccompanied by field notes. The flowers of the Takara-shima specimens are white, those of that from Taira-shima pink or ros^-colored. The color of the flowers and of the pubescence more readily distinguish this variety from the type than does the shape of the leaves pointed out by Hayata. I am sorry that I did not see this interesting plant in a wild state and am inclined to the view that ultimately it may prove to be a distinct species. The Kawanabe Islands are a nimiber of small rocky eminences which jut out of the sea south of Yaku-shima toward the Liukiu Islands and have a flora like that of Liukiu (see Jour. Arnold Arb. I. 183-186 [1920]). Rhododendron atrovirens Franchet in BuU Soc, Bot France, XXXIII. 235 (1886). — Hemsley in Jour. Linn, Soc. XXVI. 19 (1889). •— Millais, Rhodod. 124 (1917). The species from western Yunnan is unknown to me, except from Franchet's description. It would appear to be intermediate between R, Simsii Planch, and R. microphyUm Franch. It is said to be a large bush or small tree with lanceolate, long-acuminate leaves narrowed to the base and glaucescent on the underside. The flowers are described as red, clustered 3 or 4 together, and each 2.5 cm. or less in diameter. It was discovered by P6re Delavay at " Tchen-fang-chan " near Ta- kouan in May, 1882, but apparently has not yet been introduced to cultivation. Rhododendron lasiostylum Hayata, Icon. PI. Formos. III. 135 (1913). — Kanehira, Formos. Trees, 321 (1917). — Komatsu in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXXII [14] (1918). Formosa : prov. Nex^vv., between Shusbu and Horisha, March 12, 1918, E. H. Wilson (No. 10,020). This is a pretty pink-flowered Azalea of which I have seen only one plant. It was growing on top of a rock by the trolley line at about 400 m. altitude, and was about 1 m. high and less broad. The branches are slender and twiggy and when young clothed with the usual appressed, flattened chestnut-brown hairs. The young leaves, petioles, pedicels, calyx and ovary are all densely clothed with chest- nut-brown pubescence changing to gray. The leaves are dimorphic; the spring leaves are lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate and from 2 to 4.5 cm. long and 1 to 1.5 cm. wide, acute and deciduous; the sunmier leaves are oblong-obovate to oblanceo- late from 2 to 4.5. cm. long and 1 to 2 cm. wide, roimded and mucronate at apex and cimeate at base; both surfaces are clothed with appressed gray to rufous- brown hairs. The flowers are terminal, three or four together at the end of the branchlet. The corolla is funnel-shape, pink, about 2 cm. long with spreading lobes and about 2.5. cm. across, the tube being rather less than 1 cm. long. The calyx is variable in size being either nearly obsolete or with distinct, rounded lobes each a millimetre or more long. The stamens are of unequal length, the longest equalling the corolla-lobes and overtopped by the style. It is with considerable hesitation that I identify my specimens with this species. There are many dis- crepancies but of trivial character the more important being the difference in i ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES 51 size of the cal)rx-]obes and of the leaves. I have seen the t3rpe specimens in Tokyo but the material is so poor that I could arrive at no definite conclusion in the absence of my own material for comparison. Rhododendron subsessUe Rendle in Jour, BoL XXXIV. 357 (1896) .— Merrill in Govt. Lab, Publ, (Philipp.) XXIX. 40 (1905). — Millais Rhodod, 249 (1917). Philippine Islands: Luzon, Prov. Benquet, Baguio, March 1907, 1913, A, D, E, Elmer (Nos. 8595, 14,298); same locality, May- June, 1916, J, K, Santos (No. 38); same province, Mt. St. Tomas, February 18, 1916, E, C, Leano (Forestry Bureau No. 25,125); same locality, March, 1904, A, D, E. Elmer (No. 5799); same locality, July 1, November 29, 1904 R, S, William^s (Nos. 1223, 2001); same locality, May 10, 1904, P, T, Barnes (No. 922); same locality, April 1908, S, N, Whitford (Forestry Bureau No. 11,090); Mt. Tonglon alt. 2200 m., November 12, 1905, May, 1911, E, D, Merrill (Nos. 4815, 736); same place, August, 1906, H, M, Curran (No. 5032); same place, December, 1906, E, A, M earns; same place, December, 1908, M. L, Merritt (No. 14,148); Bucao, alt. 2300 m. January 4, 1909, R. J, Alvarez (No. 18,362); Mt. Pulog, January 3 & 8, 1909, T, C, Zschokke and M, L. Merritt (Nos. 18,035, 18,172); Pauai, July, 1907, E, A, Meams (No. 4275); same place, alt. 2100 m., June, 1909, R. C. McGregor (No. 8420) ; same place, April 17, 1918, J, K, Santos (No. 31,994); District of Lepanto, January 26, 1909, F. W, Darling (No. 16,573); same district, Mt. Data, November 4, 1905, E, D, Merrill (No. 4606); prov. Abra, February 8, 1909, M, Ramos (Nos. 7249, 7105); subprov. Bontoc, alt. 1350 m. April 7, 1910, P^e M. Vanoverher (Nos. 351, 364) — all these numbers in Herb. Bureau Science Manila. This Philippine species in its pubescence and foliage somewhat resembles, as Dr. Rendle points out, the Japanese R. mucr