Description

Shrub to 1m. Twigs 3–4mm in diameter, rounded, densely covered with brown scales; internodes 1.5–8cm. Leaves 4–5 together in dense pseudowhorls. Blade 40–100 x 12–30mm, narrowly elliptic, acuminate; apex acute; margin entire, flat or slightly revolute, markedly so in dry specimens; base acutely tapering; moderately silvery scaly above initially, becoming glabrescent in the mature state; dull with dense, golden-brown scales beneath. Scales flat, with many touching or slightly overlapping each other, forming a continuous layer, the marginal zone wide in relation to the small darker centre, deeply and irregularly crenate to moderately lobed, disappearing in old leaves leaving depressed scale centres or small pits. Mid-vein distinctly impressed for the entire length above, and grooved near the base, strong and prominently raised beneath for almost the entire length; lateral veins 6–10 per side, irregular, spreading, straight below, anastomosing towards the margin, slightly raised above when dry, obscure beneath. Petiole 10–25 x 2–2.5mm, grooved above, very densely brown-scaly. Flower buds 10–13 x 5–7mm, green, with dense brown scales, sub-spherical but with a distinct c.3mm apiculus, the bracts all appressed but sometimes with a few basal, linear ones, spreading, but inwardly curling and with cataphylls around the base; basal bracts triangular, very densely brown-scaly outside and with dense scales inside at the apex, other bracts ovate, densely brown-scaly outside and with a fringe of scales along the margins, glabrous inside. Bracteoles to 10mm, linear, scaly. Inflorescence 8–13-flowered in an open umbel, the flowers semi-erect to half-hanging. Pedicels 15–20 x c.1.25mm, slender, pink, densely scaly, the scales on short stalks and minutely, patently hairy. Calyx disc-shaped or triangularly lobed, the lobes 1–2mm, covered with, and fringed with, scales. Corolla 13–18 x 18–27mm, campanulate, cream or very pale yellow, without scent; tube 8–11 x 4–6 x 11–15mm, brown-scaly outside, glabrous inside except for a few long hairs near the base; lobes 8–10 x 9–13mm, sub-circular, erect or semi-erect and half overlapping, scaly outside except near the margins. Stamens exserted to c.4mm, at first, with the anthers curved inwards towards the centre of the flower, later regularly wide-spreading around the mouth, c.11mm; filaments linear, patently hairy in the basal 1⁄3, glabrous above; anthers c.1.8mm, broadly oblong. Disc hairy or glabrous. Ovary c.3 x 1.5mm, conical, densely scaly, with a mixture of purple-coloured and brown scales but without simple hairs, tapering distally; style 6–7mm, thick, mostly deflected to the lower side of the flower, curving towards the centre as the flower ages, scaly in the proximal ½ with both purple and brown scales, glabrous distally; stigma thick, deeply 5-lobed. Fruit 15–20 x 4–5mm, densely scaly, the valves curling back, the placentae weakly spreading and breaking away from the base. Seeds 5–6mm, without tails c.1mm, the longest tail 2.5mm.

Distribution

Indonesia, W Java, Mts Salak, Gedeh, Telaga above Puntjak and Telaga Warna and vicinity, reported from C Java (Kedu: Dieng, coll. Junghuhn), but not recollected there recently.

Altitude

Habitat

Epiphytic in montane forest. Locally common.

Nomenclatural History

Vireya alba (Blume) Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 1826. 855.

Notes

References

Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:130