Gen. Hist. 3: 844 (1834).
Verified by:
Large shrub or small tree, 1.5-6m; young shoots with long stiff bristles (rarely glabrous). Leaves elliptic to obovate, (9-)l 1-19 x 3.5-6.5cm,c.3 x as long as broad, apex acute to acuminate, base rounded to cuneate, upper surface ± glabrous, lower surface with scattered dendroid hairs and stipitate glands, with or without bristles on the midrib; petioles l-2cm, glabrous or with a dense covering of glandular bristles. Inflorescence dense, 10-20-flowered; rhachis c.5mm; pedicels 5-10mm, glabrous. Calyx cupular, 10-15mm, often with reddish tints, glabrous or with a few hairs at base, lobes well-developed, rounded, erose. Corolla fleshy, tubular-campanulate, crimson to blood-red, with darker nectar pouches, rarely pure white, 30-35mm. Ovary densely stipitate-glandular, also with some dendroid hairs; style glabrous. Capsule 15-20 x c.5mm, curved.
N India (Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Bengal, W Arunachal Pradesh), China (S Xizang), Nepal, Bhutan.
Open slopes, amongst scrub, Abies forest, etc.
R. nobile Wallich, pro parte, nomen nudum. R. lancifolium Hooker f., Rhododendrons Sikkim Himalaya t.4 (1849). Type: Sikkim, Hooker (holo. K).
Chamberlain, D.F. (1982) A Revision of Rhododendron II. Subgenus Hymenanthes. Notes From the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(2):380