Lilium
RHODODENDRON. The name is compounded from rhodon, rose, and dendron, tree. It is the rose tree, or tree-rose. NATURAL ORDER, Ericaceae. LINNAEAN: 10, Decandria; 1, Moxogynia.--The rhododendrons constitute a great and important section of the family of heaths. They are shrubs or trees, mostly evergreen, with funnel-shaped flowers consisting of five lobes with ten stamens, but there are a few curious exceptions to the rule. The magnificent Rhododendron Griffithianum has sixteen stamens, and some of the species have but eight. The casual eye recognises the more prominent characters, such as the style of the leafage, which is very distinct, and the appearance of the flowers in dense clusters at the ends of the branches, the buds before expansion being clothed with leafy scales. There are, however, some singular exceptions to the prominent characters by which the rhododendrons are generally known. Thus, the Dahurian species is deciduous and the leaves are small, so that the plant has always a spare appearance; the flowers, moreover, occur singly, or at most only two or three together. And yet this is much valued in the American garden for its early flowers, which appear in advance of the leaves and are of a lovely purple colour. These and their companions, the azaleas, are commonly spoken of as "American plants, but the New World has supplied but few of the many that are in cultivation. Rhododendron maximum and Azalea calendulacea are natives of the North American continent, but the far east has supplied more species than the far west to our gardens--Siberia, China, the Himalayas, and Asia Minor being the principal sources of supply. The Pontic rhododendron is an example of a kind of vegetation common to some parts of Asia Minor, where may also be found the Pontic azalea, which has yellow or orange coloured flowers. Among the flowers of the Alps occur two rhododendrons, namely, R. ferrugineum and R. hirsutum, which are of dwarf growth and exceedingly beautiful when in flower. Between the rhododendrons and the azaleas the differences are but few and slight, but the cultivator distinguishes them readily, for in general complexion they differ in a greater degree than in details of structure. The stamens are usually five in number, the flowers are often glandular and clammy, and many of the species are as decidedly deciduous as the rhododendrons are decidedly evergreen. But there are species intermediate between the two genera, and therefore to keep them apart is a matter of convenience more than of necessity.