Phil. J. Sc. 1953. 82: 333.
WFO ID: wfo-0000400489
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331869-1
Verified by:
Shrub to 1m. Twigs 1–2mm in diameter, rounded, at first covered with flat stellate scales, quickly glabrescent; internodes 1.5–4cm. Leaves 4–6 in tight to somewhat loose pseudowhorls. Blade 25–50 x 10–20mm, elliptic or slightly obovate; apex broadly acute, obtuse to rounded; margin entire, flat, narrowly cartilaginous, often red; base broadly tapering; sub-densely scaly on both sides, glabrescent and shiny above, more persistently scaly below. Scales irregularly stellately lobed with a broad marginal flange and small slightly darker brown centre, not or only slightly impressed. Mid-vein slightly impressed into a narrow groove above, broad and slightly raised for the proximal 6–8mm beneath, otherwise smooth; lateral veins 6–8 per side curving upwards at c.45°, very slightly raised above, smooth or obscure beneath. Petiole 3–4 x 1.5–2mm, not or only weakly grooved above, flattened, scaly, and often minutely hairy. Flower buds to 27 x 12mm, ellipsoid or narrowly ovoid, acutely pointed, the tips of the bracts slightly spreading, white with conspicuous waxy deposits. Bracts to 15 x 8mm, ovate, apiculate, translucent, often flecked with brown, almost totally glabrous but with a few scales near the midline, lacking marginal scales. Inflorescence of 3–5 flowers in an open umbel, mostly horizontal but sometimes semi-erect to half-hanging, usually bicoloured with a yellow tube and orange lobes, sometimes pure yellow and occasionally almost completely orange. Pedicels 13–18 x c.1.5mm, red, sub-densely scaly, without hairs. Calyx obliquely thickened, disc-shaped, obscurely lobed, c.3mm in diameter. Corolla 15–30 x 40–55mm, shortly tubular-funnel-shaped; tube 10–15 x 6–7 x 12–17mm, sparsely stellately scaly outside, densely white-hairy inside; lobes 15–27 x 15–24mm, obovate, spreading horizontally or a little reflexed, overlapping to c.½ on upper side of the flower, not overlapping or only to 1⁄3 on the lower side. Stamens unequal, irregularly spreading, mostly on the lower side of the mouth, sometimes in two groups on each side, exserted to c.6mm but reflexing back against the corolla with age; filaments linear, white, densely white-hairy in the proximal 5–6mm, glabrous and filiform distally; anthers 2.7–3 x 1.25mm, narrowly oblong, shortly apiculate basally. Disc deeply lobed, minutely hairy on the upper side, otherwise glabrous. Ovary 5–6.5 x 2–3mm, cylindrical, abruptly contracted distally, densely stellate-scaly, without hairs; style 10–14mm, at first depressed to the lower side of the mouth, later becoming central in position, completely glabrous or with some scales at the base; stigma c.3mm in diameter, circular, yellow. Fruit 26–35 x 5–6mm, spindle-shaped, with pronounced longitudinal grooves, scaly.
Philippines, Palawan, Mt Mantalinajan, Brooke’s Point.
An epiphyte in dense montane rain forest.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:206