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Derivation. The specific name maximum is derived from the Latin magnus, great, and signifies "the largest ;" in reference to the large size of this tree when compared with the minor species of this genus.

Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pl. 67; Audubon, Birds of America, ii., pl. ciii.; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 932; and the figures below.

Specific Characters. Arborescent. Leaves elliptic-oblong, acute, convex, bluntish at the base, whitish or rusty beneath, glabrous. Calycine segments oval-obtuse. Segments of corolla roundish. Flowers pale red, in umbellate corymbs, studded with green, yellow, or purple protuberances.-Don, Miller's Dict.

Description.

"Pleased with their toil, the healers sought the cell,

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Where Rhododendron, like some drooping maid,

Timid and beauteous, hides its golden locks;

Or lur'd her statelier sister's aid, to bribe
Relentless Chronic Rheumatism to loose

The rigid sinew."

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TRAITS OF THE ABORIGINES.

HE Rhododendron maximum generally presents itself in the form of a shrub, less than ten feet high; but it sometimes attains a height of twenty or twenty-five feet, with a stem four or five inches in diameter. When the leaves are beginning to unfold themselves they are rose-coloured, and are covered with a reddish down. When fully expanded, they are smooth, five or six inches long, of an elongated-oval form, and of a thick, coriaceous texture. Although the tree is evergreen, it renews its leaves once in three or

four years. It puts forth flowers from June till August, which are commonly rose-coloured, with yellow dots on the inside, and sometimes they are perfectly white. They always occur at the extremity of the branches in beautiful groups, which derive additional lustre from the foliage that surrounds them. The seeds are extremely minute, and are contained in capsules which open in autumn, for their escape.

Varieties. The varieties recognized in this species are as follows:

1. R. M. ALBUM, Loudon. White-flowered Rose Bay-tree, with pure white flowers, and is comparatively rare.

2. R. M. HYBRIDUM, Loudon. Hybrid Rose Bay-tree, supposed to have been produced by fertilizing the common white glaucous-leaved Azalea with the pol

len of the Rhododendron maximum. The flowers of this variety are very fragrant, which circumstance alone, entitles it to a place in collections.

3. R. M. PURPUREUM, Loudon. Purple-flowered Rose Bay-tree. This variety, which has large purple flowers, grows to an immense size, its stem being often found eighteen inches in diameter, and its foliage triple the size of that of any other species. It is a native of Virginia and Carolina, on the highest mountains, near lakes, where it forms a large shrub, or low tree, growing to the height of twenty-five feet, flowering in the months of May and June.

Geography, &c. The Rhododendron maximum is found on Long Island, and on the banks of the Hudson below the Highlands, in the state of New York, and rarely as far north as Massachusetts; but these places may be considered far beyond the limits where this tree ceases to be an inhabitant of the forests. It frequently occurs in the middle and southern states of the union, particularly in the mountainous tracts of Carolina and Georgia. It is almost exclusively seen on the borders of rivers and creeks, and is observed to be more multiplied in approaching the Alleghanies, till, in the midst of these mountains, especially in Virginia, it becomes so abundant on the sides of the torrents, as to form impenetrable thickets. Deeply-shaded situations, in the vicinity of cool and crystal waters flowing among rocks, where the atmosphere is charged with vapour, are the most congenial to the growth of this tree.

This species was introduced into Britain by Peter Collinson, in 1736; but it did not flower in England, as Miller informs us, until 1756; and the only person who then succeeded in raising it, was Mr. James Gordon, at Mile End. It has also been introduced into many of the gardens and collections on the continent of Europe; but as it is not nearly so easy of cultivation as the Rhododendron ponticum, it does not grow to so large a size. In Derbyshire, England, at Shipley Hall, there is a specimen of the Pontic rhododendron exceeding sixteen feet in height, the branches of which cover a space nearly sixty feet in diameter. In the Bartram botanic garden, at Kingsessing, near Philadelphia, there is a Rhododendron maximum fifteen feet in height, with a top forty-five feet in circumference.

Propagation and Culture. The Rhododendron maximum, like all its congeners, may be propagated by cuttings of the young shoots, taken off in a growing state, when their lower ends have begun to ripen, and planted in pure sand, and covered with a bell-glass, or by layers; but the best plants of this, and all the other species, are procured from seeds. They are ripe in August or September; and, though they will retain their vital principle for upwards of a year, it is considered safest to sow them soon after they are gathered. They should be sown in peat soil, or very fine sandy loam, in pots or boxes, or in a border shaded from the direct influence of the sun; and kept in a uniform state of moisture, and protected from the frost. In sowing, the surface of the soil should previously be made quite smooth, and gently pressed down, or watered till it has settled to a level surface; and, after the seeds have been equally distributed over this surface, they should be covered with no more soil than is barely requisite to conceal them from the eye. Seeds sown in autumn will germinate in the following spring, and will be fit for transplanting by the next autumn, or by the spring of the following year. After seedling plants have been a year in pots, or in the seedbed, they may be planted into nursery lines, and removed every year, or every second year, and placed at greater distances, till they have acquired the size at which it is considered desirable to sell them, or to plant them where they are finally to remain. At whatever age or size they are removed from the nursery, they require, in common with all hair-rooted plants, to have a small ball of earth attached to their roots, and to have these carefully protected from drought by In consequence of almost all the rhododendrons and azaleas being remov

mats.

able with balls, they may be transplanted at every season of the year, though autumn and spring are the periods generally made choice of. In consequence, also, of peat soil readily adhering to the fibrils of the plants of this genus, and, indeed, of all the Ericaceæ, it becomes less necessary to grow them in pots for the convenience of removal, than is the case with most other rare and valuable trees and shrubs.

Properties and Uses. The wood of the American rose bay is hard, compact, and fine-grained; but, from its diminutive size and comparative scarcity in the more populous parts of the country where it grows, it has not, hitherto, been appropriated to any particular use in the arts. The leaves are sudorific and narcotic, and have been successfully employed in the cure of rheumatism. The almost entire use to which this species is applied, both in Europe and in America, is for ornament; and, from its delicately-coloured flowers, of the beautiful red and white tints of the apple blossom and of the rose, which strikingly contrast with its smooth, evergreen leaves, it richly deserves a place in every collection.

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Derivation. Named by Linnæus in honour of Peter Kalm, professor at Abo, in Sweden; author of "Travels in America," in 1753.

Generic Characters. Corolla of the shape of a wide-spread bell, and with 10 cavities on the inside, in which the anthers of 10 stamens repose before shedding their pollen. Capsule 5-celled. Dissepiments marginal.-Don, Miller's Dict.

HE genus Kalmia consists of low evergreen shrubs, highly ornamental in their foliage and flowers; natives of North America; of easy culture in peaty soil, and propagated by layers, seeds, or by cuttings. Most, if not all the species are accounted poisonous, and honey collected by bees from their flowers is of a deleterious nature. The leaves of the shrub called "Lamb-kill," or "Sheep Laurel," (Kalmia angustifolia,) is highly poisonous to sheep and lambs, often causing their death when eaten by them, particularly the latter. Hence the

name.

To the same natural family belong the various species of heath (Erica, Gypsocallis, Calluna, etc.); also the several kinds of strawberry-trees (Arbutus); whortleberries (Vaccinium); and several genera of procumbent and trailing shrubs. among which are the common bearberry, (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi,) the partridgeberry or winter-green, (Gaultheria procumbens,) the Labrador tea, (Ledum latifolium,) and the common marsh cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris.)

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Derivations. The specific name latifolia is derived from the Latin latus, broad, and folium, a leaf; having reference to the broad leaves of this species. The French and German names have the same signification as the botanic one. It is called Calicotree, Calico Flower, &c., on account of its beautiful spotted flowers.

Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pl. 68; Catesby, Natural History of Carolina, ii., pl. 98; Audubon, Birds of America, i., Iv.; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, îi., fig. 959; and the figures below.

Specific Characters. Leaves on long petioles, scattered, or 3 in a whorl, oval, coriaceous, smooth, and green on both surfaces. Corymbs terminal, downy, and viscid.-Don, Miller's Dict.

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The

of fifteen or twenty feet, in favourable situa-
tions, with a stem three or four inches in diam-
eter; but ordinarily it does not attain more
than one half of these dimensions. Its leaves
are of a coriaceous texture, oval-acuminate,
entire, and about three inches long.
flowers, which put forth from May to July, are
sometimes of a pure white, tinted with pale-
pink, delicately spotted; but, in general, they
are of a beautiful rose-colour, and are destitute
of odour. They are disposed in corymbs at the
extremity of the branches; and, as they are
always numerous, their brilliant effect is height-
ened by the richness of the surrounding foliage.
The seeds are very minute, and are contained
in small, globular capsules.

Geography and History. The Kalmia latifolia is indigenous to North America, from Canada to Carolina. It rarely occurs, however, north of the forty-second or forty-third degrees of north latitude, and is but sparingly produced in Kentucky and western Tennessee, and disappears entirely in the southern states wherever the rivers enter the low country, or where the pine-barrens begin. Although it is comparatively abundant along the rivers of the middle and southerr. states, it is nowhere seen more profusely multiplied, nor of a greater height,

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