Bot. Bull. Queensl. Dep. Agr. 1895. 10: 39.
WFO ID: wfo-0000400405
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331956-1
Verified by:
Shrub to 2.5m. Twigs rounded, tips sparsely to sub-densely stellately scaly; internodes 2–12cm. Leaves 4–5 in well-marked pseudowhorls. Blade 70–100 x 30–60mm, elliptic, broadly elliptic, to sub-obovate-elliptic; apex very shortly obtuse; margin entire, flat or slightly revolute; base rounded or broadly tapering, the extreme base sometimes truncate to slightly sub-cordate; sub-densely scaly on both sides initially, early glabrescent above, more persistently scaly beneath. Scales thin, flat, brown, often on minute low epidermal elevations which are still visible as pale spots when the scales have gone, marginal zone thin, irregularly deeply incised; centre very small. Mid-vein impressed above, very prominent beneath especially proximally; lateral veins 8–10 per side, straight basally, sometimes forking, obscurely curved-anastomosing before the margin, smooth above when fresh, (raised when dry), prominent beneath, laxly reticulate, more visible beneath, veinlets obscure. Petiole 8–15 x 2.5mm, grooved above, semi-rounded, brown-scaly. Flower buds to 30 x 12mm, narrowly ovate, acutely pointed, green, the bract tips spreading and recurving, densely hairy and with a few scales outside and fringing the bract margins. Bracts ovate to obovate-spathulate. Bracteoles c.20 x 2.5mm, linear-spathulate, laxly hairy. Inflorescence an open one-sided umbel of 5–7 flowers, held horizontally or half-hanging. Pedicels 15–25 x c.2mm, sub-densely scaly, sometimes with a few hairs below the calyx, red. Calyx distinct, scaly and laxly hairy outside, glabrous inside, irregularly, deeply 5-lobed, lobes triangular, c.3 x 2mm, occasionally subulate up to 7mm, red, fringed often becoming reflexed. Corolla 55–60 x 35–40mm, trumpet-shaped, white or pink with white lobes; tube 45–60 x 5–6 x 10–12mm, straight or slightly curved, angled in section and grooved proximally, very laxly scaly or practically glabrous outside, densely long-hairy inside in the proximal 1⁄3, becoming less densely so and glabrous in the distal 1⁄3; lobes c.15–20 x 14–18mm, broadly obovate to nearly circular, spreading, overlapping to c.halfway, glabrous. Stamens loosely clustered on the lower side of the mouth, exserted to c.6mm, hanging down on the lower side in older flowers; filaments slender, white, densely hairy at the base, becoming less so, and completely glabrous in the distal 1⁄3; anthers 3–4 x c.1mm, oblong, base obtuse. Disc glabrous or hairy. Ovary 10–12 x 2.5–3mm, elongate-conical, 5-ribbed, densely covered with appressed white hairs, which cover some scales, gradually tapering distally; style densely hairy and very laxly scaly in the proximal ½, glabrous and more slender distally; stigma broadly obconical, distinctly 5-lobed, becoming exserted to 12mm.
Papua New Guinea, Mt Dayman, summit; Central/Northern District, Mt Suckling; Milne Bay District, Mt Vineuo, Goodenough Is.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:178