This is one of five species of Himalayan plants which, until recently,
were included in the genus vaccinium. The new name for them is ugly
enough to make one wish that they were vacciniums still.
Pentapterygium serpens is the most beautiful of the lot, and, so far
as I know, this and P. rugosum are the only species in cultivation in
England. The former was collected in the Himalayas about ten years ago
by Captain Elwes, who forwarded it to Kew, where it grows and flowers
freely under the same treatment as suits Cape heaths. Sir Joseph
Hooker says it is abundant on the Sikkim mountains at from 3,000 to
8,000 feet elevation, and that it usually grows on the stout limbs of
lofty trees. In this it resembles many of the rhododendrons of that
region, and it has been suggested that they are epiphytic from force
of circumstances, not from choice. On the ground they would have no
chance against the other vegetation, which would strangle or starve
them out. Remove them from this struggle for existence, and they at
once show their preference for rich soil and plenty of it. All the
pentapterygiums have the lower part of the stem often swelling out
into a prostrate trunk, as thick as a man's leg sometimes, and sending
out stout branching roots which cling tightly round the limbs of the
tree upon which it grows. These swollen stems are quite succulent, and
they serve as reservoirs of moisture and nourishment. In the wet
season they push out new shoots, from which grow rapidly wands three
or four feet long, clothed with box-like leaves, and afterward with
numerous pendulous flowers. These are elegant in shape and richly
colored. They are urn-shaped, with five ribs running the whole length
of the corolla, and their color is bright crimson with deeper colored
V-shaped veins, as shown in the illustration of the flowers of almost
natural size. They remain fresh upon the plant for several weeks. The
beautiful appearance of a well grown specimen when in flower may be
seen from the accompanying sketch of the specimen at Kew, which was at
its best in July, and remained in bloom until the middle of September.
[Illustration: PENTAPTERYGIUM SERPENS (FLOWERS NEARLY NATURAL SIZE)]
P. rugosum is also grown as a greenhouse plant at Kew, where it has
been in cultivation about twenty years. It has larger leaves and a
more bushy habit than P. serpens, while the flowers are produced in
fascicles on the old wood. They are as large as those here figured,
but differ in color, being whitish, with brown-red V-shaped marks.
Both species may be propagated from cuttings. The plants thrive in
sandy peat, and they like plenty of moisture at all times.--_W.
Watson, in The Gardeners' Magazine_.
[Illustration: PENTAPTERYGIUM SERPENS (FLOWERS DEEP CRIMSON)]
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