Description

Shrub, 0.5-6m. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic to oblanceolate, 6.5-15 x 2-3.5cm, 3.5-4.5 x as long as broad, apex acuminate, base cuneate to rounded, margin usually slightly undulate, both surfaces glabrous though with red punctate hair bases overlying the veins beneath; petioles l-3cm, glabrous. Inflorescence 7-12(-17)-flowered; rhachis 5-35mm; pedicels 15-30mm, densely stipitate-glandular. Calyx l-2mm, lobes rounded, gland-fringed. Corolla open-campanulate, lacking nectar pouches, white with a rose flush, with or without purple flecks, 25—40mm. Ovary densely glandular; style glandular to tip. Capsule 13-25 X 6-8mm.

Distribution

China (W Yunnan, ?Guizhou), NE Upper Burma

Altitude

Habitat

Nomenclatural History

R. laxiflorum Balfour f. & Forrest, Notes R.B.G. Edinb. 13: 50

(1920). Type: China, W Yunnan, Shweli/Salween divide, 8000ft, v 1919, Forrest 17953 (holo. E;

iso. K). R. hardingii Tagg, Notes R.B.G. Edinb. 16: 196 (1931). Type: China, W Yunnan, 3 days

march S of Tengyueh, 24°20’N, 98°33’E, 6000ft, Harding (Forrest) 26313 (holo. E).

Notes

References

Chamberlain, D.F. (1982) A Revision of Rhododendron II. Subgenus Hymenanthes. Notes From the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(2):293