Tliis splendid variety was raised at the late Earl of Liverpool's,
Combe House, in 1819, by Mr. William Smith, from
Nepal seeds communicated by Robert Henry Jenkinson, Esq.
One of the plants then raised blossomed for the first time in
Mr. Smith’s collection at Norbiton Common, near Kingston,
Surrey, where our drawing was taken in the beginning of
April. According to Dr. Wallich this occurs along with the
w lite variety, given at TAB. 146. of the present work, on the
mountain of Sheopore, at an elevation of 10,000 feet above
tlie level of the sea.
We subjoin the following interesting extract from the
second volume of Dr. Wallich’s splendid work on Indian
plants, relating to these varieties of R . arhoreum. “ Both
(the white and rose fiowered varieties) are confined to the
single mountain of Sheopore, among those which I had an
opportunity of visiting during my sojourn in Nepal, occupying
the very summit of it, at an elevation of not less than
10,000 feet above the sea. I observed a considerable number
of individuals, but it appeared to me that those with rose-
coloured fiowers were by far the most common. They attain
the size of very large forest trees, and are noble objects at all
times. They blossom simultaneously in April, in which state
the beauty of them surpasses description, the ample crown of
the trees being entirely covered with bunches of large and
elegant blossoms. The common red-fiowered or parent
species is likewise found on the above-mentioned- mountain,
but it is less frequent there than in lower situations, where it
blossoms a month earlier, that is in March.”
Dr. Wallich thinks, and with great reason, that from these
two varieties occurring at a higher elevation, they are likely
to prove more hardy than the crimson-fiowered kind.
The generic name is already explained at fol. 10. D . Don.