The Ornamental Flower Garden and Shrubbery, Coloured Figures and Descriptions Selected from the Works of R. Sweet, D. Don Etc., to Which Are Added Descriptions by an Eminent Floriculturist (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1852 Excerpt: ... sepals spreading, triangular, villose; segments of the corolla acute, not imbricating. A. obtusa, Lindley in Journal of Horticultural Society, i. 149, and in Bot. Reff. 1846, t. 37. This charming greenhouse shrub is certainly one of the gayest of all the red Chinese Azaleas in cultivation. It is a little bush, with very blunt leaves, both smaller and narrower in proportion than we find upon the species more commonly seen in our gardens, and has also smaller flowers, though these are of the most glowing red. The latter have uniformly five stamens only, the characteristic mark of the genus Azalea. The segments of the corolla are nearly oval and sharp-pointed; the upper one is not much smaller than the others, anc is faintly blotched with purple. This remarkable species was sent to the Garden of the Horticultural Society by Mr. Fortune, in 1844, as an ( Azalea, from Shanghae, with fine deep red flowers.' Its indefatigable discoverer regarded it as an acquisition of great importance, and we agree with him in thinking it a most valuable species for all decorative purposes. We learn from Dr. Lindley's account of it, that in addition to other merits, it has that of being fragrant like Sweet Brier. The high northern latitude from which it was obtained would seem to indicate a great degree of hardiness, but the plant is properly treated as a greenhouse shrub, in which character it proves to be very useful, in consequence of its being a free flowerer, and of a dwarf habit. The accompanying-drawing was made in the Garden of the Horticultural Society in the month of March, which is its flowering season. The representations of the flowers are by no means so brilliant as they would be produced in the hands of our Azalea growers. There are no good botanical grounds on wh...