Azalea

(a-za'le-ah.) (Bot.) A gen. of shrubs, O. Ericacer, allied to Rhododendron, are distinguished among other plants by having 5 instead of 10 stamens, and belong to N. America and China (Fig. 60). Though generally cultivated on account of the remarkable beauty and fragrance of their flowers, they have deleterious properties, one of them, A. pont ica, being charged with the destruction of the army of Xenophon, whose soldiers had eaten freely of honey derived principally from the flowers of this plant. Fig. 60.-AZALEA INDICA. [s. 65]