Azalea, foliis ovato-oblongis, pilosis, alternis; floribus amplissimis, luteis; staminibus longissimis, declinatis. Azalea, with oblong egg-shaped leaves, hairy, and alternate; flowers very large, and yellow; chives very long, and bent downward. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. The Empalement, (natural size.) 2. The Chives as they appear within the blossom. 3. The Seed-bud, Shaft, and Summit. 4. A Capsule cut horizontally, exposing the number of its cells. America has furnished our gardens with an extensive variety of beautiful shrubs; amongst them, the Azaleas hold a distinguished place; some for the beauty, others for the fragrance, of their blossoms: the present species far surpasses all of them for both. It is a native of the coast of the Black Sea, or Pontus Euxinus, through the whole of its extent, on the Asiatic side, from the city of Trebisonde; from whence its trivial name. That a plant of such extreme beauty, and sweetness, should so long have been a stranger to our European gardens, though known to, and described by, so many botanical travellers, must seem matter of wonder; but still it is an uncontested fact. Mons. Tournefort, in his Voyage to the Levant, has given an ample description of it, under the title of Chamærhododendros Pontica maxima, mespili folio, flore luteo; where he says, it grows to the height of seven or eight feet, and that the flowers are of a most exquisite flavour. Dr. P. Pallas, in his Flora Rossica, has likewise figured, and described it, under the name it here bears; but apparently his drawing was made from a dried specimen, as the brilliancy of the flower is by no means preserved; but it is to him we are indebted for this fine plant. In his voyage to the Crimea and countries adjacent, in 1792, he procured the seeds of this, amongst many other valuable and rare plants; parcels of most of which were sent by him to Messrs. Lee and Kennedy. Hammersmith; by whom plants were raised of it, and many other sorts, the next year. It is a deciduous shrub, extremely hardy, and blows early in the spring; is propagated, like other Azaleas, by layers and seeds; grows best in peat earth, with a small portion of loam. [Illustration] PLATE XVII. PROTEA FORMOSA. _Coronet Protea._ CLASS IV. ORDER I. _TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal. GENERIC CHARACTER. CALYX. Perianthium commune, imbricatum; squamis inæqualibus, persistentibus. _Proprium_ nullum. COROLLA tetrapetala. Petala sæpe cohærentia, sæpius divisa, lineari-oblonga: unguibus erectis, limbo patenti. STAMINA. Filamenta nulla. Antheræ quatuor, lineares, vel oblongæ, sub apice limbi corollæ; insertæ. PISTILLUM. Germen superum, oblongum. Stylus filiformis, corolla longior. Stigma simplex, clavatum. PERICARPIUM nullum. Calyx patens, induratus, vix mutatus. SEMINA solitaria, subrotunda, vel compressa. RECEPTACULUM commune nudum, villosum, paleaceum, vel conus.