1). P. OVALIFOʻLIA D. Don. The oval-leaved Pieris. Identification. D. Don in Edinb. New Phil. Journ., 3. p. 832. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 832. a figure; A. capric da Hamilton MSS. rounded at the base, entire, downy when young. Flowers upon downý pedicels, and disposed unilaterally in lateral, leafy, lengthened racemes, many in a raceme. Racemes numerous. Segments of calyx ovate, and acute. Corolla oblong, downy, pale flesh-colour. (Don's Mill., iii. p. 832.) A native of Nepal at Suembu and Sirinagur, where it forms a tree from 20 ft. to 40 ft. in height, the leaves and branches of which are poisonous to goats, as is implied in the epithet capricida. It flowers in May. It was introduced in 1825, and there are plants at Messrs. Loddiges's. With a view to keep up a distinctive character between the plants kept in green-houses and hot-houses, and those grown in the open air, we do not think it advisable to multiply, in collections, exotic species of genera of 913 which the majority are hardy, and common in gardens; but, botanically, every species is interesting. App. i. Half-hardy Species of Piëris not yet introduced. P. formosa D. Don (Don's Mill., 3. p. 832.), Andrómeda formdsa Wall., is a native of Nepal, where it forms an evergreen tree, with the habit of A'rbutus or Clethra. The leaves are lanceolate, acuininated, crenulated, and glabrous; and the flowers rose-coloured, each furnished with a smali bractea at the base. This would appear to be a very desirable species ; and if it were introduced, and even found only half-hardy, some new sort might be obtained from it by means of cross-fecundation with hardy free. growing species. P. lanceolata D. Don (Don's Mul., 3. p. 382.), Andrómeda lanceolata Wall., A. squamuldsa D. Don (Prod. Fl. Nep., p. 149.), is a small-branched tree, with elliptic leaves from 3 in, to 4 in. long, and purplish corollas. P. japónica D. Don, Andrómeda japónica Thunb., and our fig. 914., is a native of Japan, with glabrous, lanceolate, crenulated leaves, and red flowers. 914 Genus XI. PHYLLO'DOCE Sal. The PhyllODOCE. Lin. Syst. Decándria Monogynia. Identification. Sal. Par., t. 36.; D. Don in Edinb. New Phil. Journ., July, 1834 ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 832. Synonymes. Andrómeda sp. L.; Men zièsia sp. Swartz, Smith. Derivation. Phyllodoce, in mythology, was the name of one of the nymphs of Cyrene, daughter of the river Peneus. Description, &c. Small evergreen shrubs, natives of the north of Europe, Asia, and North America; with linear leaves, obtuse, and spreading; and flowers terminal, solitary, or several together, in a sort of umbel. J. P. TAXIFO'lia Sal. The Yew-leaved Phyllodoce. Identification. Sal. Par., t. 36; Don's Mill., 3. p. 833. Synonymes. Menzièsia cærulea Swz. in Lin. Soc. Trans., 10. p. 377. t. 30. f. a., Smith Engl. Bot., t. 2469., Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 164.; Andrómeda cæràlea Lin. Sp., p. 563., Lin. Fl. Lapp., p. 165. t. 1., f. 5.; A. taxifdlia Pall. Fl. Ross., p. 54. t. 72. f. 2., Lin. Fl. Lapp., ed. 2., p. 133. t. 1. f. 5., Fl. Dan., t. 57.; Erica cærulea Willd. Sp., 2. p. 393. Engravings. Lin. Soc. Trans., 10. t. 30. f. a.; Eng. Bot., t. 2469 ; Bot. Cab., t. 164. ; Fl. Lapp., t. 1. f. 5.; Pall. Fl. Ross, t. 72. f. 2. ; Fl. Dan., t. 57.; Gmel. Sib., 4. p. 131. t. 57. f. 2.; and our fig. 915. t Spec. Char., &c. Leaves with denticulated margins. Peduncles aggregate, glanded. Segments of the calyx acuminate. Anthers one third of the length of the filaments. Corolla blue or purple ; red, on the authority of Pursh, in the species as found in North America. (Don's Mill., iii. p. 833.) A native of Europe, North America, and Asia. In Europe: in Scotland on dry heathy moors, rare; near Aviemore, in Strathspey, on the authority of Mr. R. Brown of Perth ; in the Western Isles of Shiant, on the authority of Mr. G. Don. In North America : on the White Hills of New Hampshire; and on the 915 : p. 833. north-west coast of Labrador. In Asia: on the mountains of Uda, in the north. Cultivated in British gardens, in moist peaty soil, where it forms a low, trailing, evergreen heath-like shrub. 2 2. P. EMPETRIFO'RMis D. Don. The Empetrum-like Phyllo doce. Identification. D. Don, in Edinb. New Phil. Journ.,July, 1834; Don's Mill., 3. 916 Synonyme. Menzièsia empetriformis Smith in Lin. Soc. Trans., 10. p. 280. ; Hook. Bot. Mag., t. 3176. aggregate, sparingly glanded. Segments of the calyx ovate, DABEE'CIA D. Don. The Dabacia. Lin. Syst. Octándria Monogynia. Description, fc. Low, heath-like, evergreen, shrubs, natives of the north of Europe and North America. R 1. D. POLIFO'lia D. Don. The Poly-leaved Dabæcia. Identification. D. Don in Edinb. New Phil. Journ., 17. p. 160. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 833. Synonyme«. Andrómeda Dabæ'cia Lin. Syst., 406.; Erica Dabæ'cia Lin. Sp. 509.; Eng. Bot., t. 55.; Menzièsia Dabæ'cia Dec. Fl. Gall., 674. ;. Erica bibérnica, &c., Raii Hist., 3. Suppl. 24. Men. zièsia polifolia Juss. Ann. Mus., i. p. 55., Fl. Hib., p. 180.; Vaccinium cantábricum Huds. N. Angl., ed. 1. p. 143., Petiv. Gaz., 27. f. 4 ; Irish Whorts, Cantabrian Heath, St. Dabeoc's Heath. Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 35. ; Petiv. Gaz., 27. f. 4. ; Sweet's Brit. Fl.-Gard., 2. s. t. 276.; and our figs 917, 918. terminal racemes. (Don's Mill., iii. p. 918 vated in British gardens, in moist peaty soil. This species and its variety are very commonly introduced into heatheries, as closely resembling hardy low-growing heaths in their foliage and general habit. The foliage is of a darker green than almost any other heaths, and the leaves, singly, are also larger. Variety. * D. p. 2 flòre álbo Swt. Brit. Fl. Gard., 2d ser., t. 276. — A variety with white flowers, which was discovered in Cunnemara, in 1820, growing along with the common variety. (Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. iv. p. 167.) There are plants in Knight's Exotic Nursery, King's Road; and in other nurseries. GENUS XIII. A'RBUTUS Camer. THE ARBUTUS, or STRAWBERRY TREE. Lin. Syst. Decandria Monogynia. Identification. Camer. Epit., p. 163. ; Gærtn. Fruct., 59. ; Tourn. Inst., 368. ; Juss. Gen., 160.; H. B et Kunth Nov, Gen. Amer., 3. p. 279.; Adans. Fam. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 834. Synonymes. Andráchne Clus.; Arbutus sp. Lin. Gen., No. 750., Schrad. Gen., 750.; Arbousier Fr.; Sandbeere, Ger. ; Abbatro, Ital. Derivation. From ar bois, austere bush, Celtic ; in allusion to the austere quality of the fruit. Description, &c. Robust evergreen shrubs, or low trees; natives of Europe, Asia, and North and South America; and, in British gardens, considered as some of the most ornamental of hardy evergreen shrubs. They are of easy culture, in sandy loam, or loam and peat; and they are readily propagated, the common kinds by layers, cuttings, or seeds, and the rarer and tenderer sorts by grafting on those that are more common and hardy. All the species have the outer bark more or less tinged with red. Plants, in British nurseries, are from 6d. to 2s. 6d. each. At Bollwyller and New York they are greenhouse plants. . 1 1. A. U'NEDO L. The Unedo Arbutus, or Strawberry Tree. Identification. Lin. Sp., 566. ; Mill. Icon., t. 48. ; Cam. Epit., 1681. ; Barrel. Icon., t. 674. ; Eng. Bot., t. 2377. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 134. ; Eng. Flora, 2. p. 254. ; Fl. Hib , p. 182. Synonymes. L'Arbousier commun, Arbousier des Pyrénées, or Fraisier en Arbre, Fr.; Erdbeereartige Sandbeere, Ger. ; Komad, Mod. Greek. oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, serrulated. Flowers nodding. Peduncles 919 of Spain, Italy, and Greece; and of Asia, in Palestine, and many other parts. It is also found in the west of Ireland, in the county of Kerry, near the Lake of Killarney, on barren limestone rocks, where the country people eat the fruit. Varieties. The following forms of this species are given in Don's Miller, and Kew., ii. p. 71. — Flowers similar manner. the handsomest variety in cultivation. It is commonly propagated by layers, by cuttings, or by grafting on the species. Mackay mentions a single tree of this variety near the entrance to Glengariff, growing on red slate. of segments constant to the corolla of the species. . A. U. 6 crispus. — Leaves curled and cut. . A. U. 7 salicifolius. Leaves narrow. Description, 8c. The common arbutus will grow to the height of 20 ft. or 30 ft.; but, unless pruned to a single stem, it assumes more the character of a huge bush than that of a regular-headed tree. When it is pruned, however, it forms a small, picturesque-headed, evergreen tree of great beauty, at every season of the year; and particularly so in autumn, when it is covered with its white bell-shaped flowers, which are slightly tinged with pink, intermixed with its large strawberry-like fruit, which is 12 months before it arrives at perfection, and which is, therefore, seen on the tree at the same time as the flower. Smith says that the fruit is insipid, and scarcely eatable in England; but that in the Levant it is said to be much larger and more agreeable, as well as more wholesome. The reddish hue of the bark is very remarkable in this and some other species of A'rbutus. The rate of growth of the tree, when young, and properly treated, will average 1 ft. a year for the first 10 years; and the plant is of considerable durability. Geography. The arbutus is a native of the south of Europe, also of varous parts of Asia, and of Africa, about Mount Atlas and Algiers; and it is particularly abundant in Italy, in the woods of the Apennines. In France, it grows as far north as lat. 56°; but it requires protection, in the winter, in the neighbourhood of Paris. In Britain, it is one of the doubtful natives; for, though it seems to be perfectly naturalised in the south of Ireland, it is, as we have seen (p. 34.), considered by many as having been introduced there. Some of the defenders of our indigenous flora, however, feel no doubts on the subject. Mr. Babington, a writer in the Mag. Nat. Hist., says, -" It has been doubted, if ” A'rbutus U`nedo “is indigenous at Killarney; but I cannot conceive it possible for any person, who has observed it on the spot, to believe it to have been introduced by the monks of Mucross Abbey,' which is the theory of the sceptical. It grows in several isolated spots, far up the mountains, and is in its greatest beauty when springing from the crevices of rock on the islets of the upper lake. My conclusion is, that it is truly an aboriginal native of that country. The fruit is excellent.” (!) (Vol. ix. p. 245.). Mr. J. Drummond, in Mackay's Flora Hibernica, says that it is certainly indigenous. History. The arbutus was known to the Greeks and Romans; but, according to Pliny, it was not held in much esteem; for, as the specific name implies, he adds, the fruit was considered so bitter, that only one of it could be caten at a time. There can be no doubt, however, that it was an article of food, in the early ages, both in Greece and Italy; since in these countries, and also in Spain, as well as about Killarney, in Ireland, it is still eaten by the common people. Virgil recommends the young shoots as winter food for young goats, and as fit for basket-work. Horace praises the tree for its shade; and Ovid celebrates its loads of“ blushing fruit." It is spoken of by Gerard as, in his time, growing only in some few gardens in England. It is mentioned by various writers, both in poetry and in prose, who have been charmed with its beauty. Among others, Mrs. Barbauld, in her poem entitled Corsica, written in 1769, gives the following description of its appearance in that island in a wild state: “ While, glowing bright Beneath the various foliage, wildly spreads The arbutus, and rears his scarlet fruit Luxuriant mantling o'er the craggy steeps." And Miss Twamley has the following lines on this tree in her Romance of Nature published in 1836. “See, like a ladye in a festal garb, How gaily deck'd she waits the Christmas time! a Properties and Uses. A sugar and a very good spirit have been extracted from the fruit in Spain, and a wine in Corsica : but, in Britain, the sole use of the plant is as an ornamental evergreen shrub or low tree. In the neighbourhood of Algiers it forms hedges; and there, in Greece, and also in Spain, the bark is used by tanners; and the charcoal made from the wood is highly valued. The wood is white, hard, and heavy, but brittle, and with little elasticity. The durability and abundance of its shining green foliage; the brownish red colour of its young shoots; the waxy and delicate appearance of its flowers, which are produced in abundance, at a season when most plants are beginning to shed their leaves; and the splendour of its fruit, which, as before observed, is intermixed with the flowers, and often remains on all the winter; render it a most desirable plant. In ornamental plantations, the pink-flowered variety deserves the preference, not only on account of the beauty of its flowers, but because the young shoots and the nerves of the leaves partake of a reddish hue. Soil, Situation, 8c. The common arbutus will thrive in any tolerably free soil ; though it seems to grow fastest, and attain the largest size, in deep sandy loam. It will grow either in open or sheltered situations, but does not thrive under the shade of trees. The species is readily propagated by seeds, which should be sown, as soon as they are separated from the pulp of the fruit, in pots of light, rich, sandy soil, or heath mould, and then placed in the shade, where they can be protected from the frost and the sun. Plants raised from seed do not generally flower till 5 or 6 years old. The double, and the scarlet-flowered, and all the other varieties, are propagated by layers; or by cuttings of the wood in a growing state, taken off in July, and treated like cuttings of heath. Statistics. In the environs of London, in the arboretum at Kew, the common arbutus is 12 ft. high; and it is equally high, or higher, at a great number of places within the saine distance of the metropolis. In the Mile End Nursery it is 15 ft. high, and the diameter of the head is 45 ft. In the Garden of the Horticultural Society, and in the arboretum of Messrs Loddiges, plants, 10 years planted, have attained the height of io nt. In Scotland, in Argyllshire, at Castle Mainard, it is 13 ft. high. in Ireland, on the lower lake of Killarney, a tree, or large bush, was 36 At. in diameter in 1805; one at Power's Court is equally large; and a similar one existed at Newtown Mount Kennedy, but was blown down in 1804 ; at Morn Park, Cork, it is 32 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 3 in., and of the head 23,1 ft. The price of plants, in the London nurseries, is from 6d. to 1s. each, according to the size, or from 11. 78. od. to sl. 158. per hundred; and the scarlet-flowered variety is 2s. 60. a plant. 'At Bollwyller, and at New York, both the species and varieties are green-house plants. 1. 2. A. HY'BRIDA Ker. The hybrid Arbutus, or Strawberry Tree. Identification. Ker Bot. Reg., t. 619.; Don's Mill., 3. p. 834. Synonyme. A. andrachnöldes Link Enum., 1. p. 395. Engravings. Bot. Reg., t. 619. ; and our fig. 920. Spec. Char., fc. Branchlets pilose. Leaves oblong, acute, serrated, glabrous. Panicle terminal, pendulous, downy. Flowers white. Flowers white. Calyx glabrous. (Don's Mill., iii. p. 834.). Apparently a hybrid between A. U'nedo, and A. An 920 dráchne. It has been cultivated in British gardens ever since the commencement of the present century, and is believed to have been originated in the Fulham Nursery, where there were, till lately, some of the largest specimens in the neighbourhood of London, and where there is still one, about 20 years planted, which is nearly 20 ft. high. This species grows as rapidly as the A. U`nedo, forms fully as large a tree, is more beautiful in its flowers which are in larger panicles, and is nearly as hardy. It flowers freely, and sometimes bears fruit, but is generally propagated by grafting. Plants in the garden of the London Horticultural . |
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