Description

Shrub, 1-5-5 m. Leaves narrowly ovate or obovate or narrowly elliptic, ± acute at the apex, cuneate-rounded at the base, 30-60(-80) x 15-32 mm, dark green and persistently lepidote above, densely lepidote beneath with contiguous or overlapping, dark brown, somewhat unequal, large, broadly rimmed scales; petiole, and midrib for a short distance from the base, pubescent. Inflorescences 3(-5)-flowered, pedicels lepidote and sometimes puberulent near the base, 10-15 mm. Calyx undulate or very weakly lobed, iepidote, sometimes filiform-acicular-ciliate. Corolla yellow, often with greenish or darker yellow spots on the upper lobes, 20-26 mm, tube 8-11 mm, variably lepidote outside, rarely elepidote. Stamens 10, filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary lepidote, style usually glabrous, rarely puberulent at the base. Capsule lepidote, cylindric, (9~)11-13 mm.

Distribution

China (C Sichuan)

Altitude

Habitat

Thickets on hillsides

Nomenclatural History

R. chiengshienianum Fang, Ic. PL Omeiensium 1:1, t. 36 (1942). Type: China, Szechuan, Omei hsien, Mt Omei, 3000 m, 27 v 1940, Sun 2229 (iso. E)

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):78