Nova Guinea 1912. 8(4): 876, t.150.
WFO ID: wfo-0000400398
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:332017-1
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Slender, loosely branched, erect shrub or small tree to 5m. Twigs 1.5–4mm in diameter, thick to slender, densely to very densely covered with deep brown stellate scales which easily fall off and are absent from the older parts which are brown and rough with the numerous fine persistent tubercles; internodes 1.5–10cm. Leaves 3–7 together in pseudowhorls, often variable in shape and size in the same whorl. Blade 30–60 x 10–35mm, narrowly ovate, to broadly elliptic, obovate or sub-circular; apex obtuse, broadly acute, sometimes apiculate; margin strongly revolute to almost flat and more densely and often more persistently scaly than the rest of the leaf beneath; base broadly tapering or rounded; very densely reddish-brown scaly on both sides at first, quickly glabrescent especially above where it can become shiny but rough, more persistently scaly below. Scales irregularly stellately divided to the centre, dendroid, very fragile, each from the top of a minute, persistent, epidermal tubercle. Mid-vein slightly impressed above, strong and prominent beneath; lateral veins 4–7 per side, straight below, curved and anastomosing before the margin, very slightly impressed above and raised beneath, often inconspicuous or completely covered by the scales beneath, reticulation dense, visibly prominent on both sides in fully mature leaves, occasionally slightly impressed above. Petiole 4–15 x c.2mm, weakly grooved in the distal ½, or the groove inconspicuous, densely covered with brown stellate scales. Flower buds c.12 x 8mm, densely brown scaly with erect to slightly spreading bract points. Bracts to 10 x 7mm; the outer ones ovate subulate, densely scaly outside and fringed with marginal scales; the inner ones ovate acuminate and apiculate. Bracteoles to 10mm, linear and glabrous or scaly at first proximally, sub-spathulate and laxly hairy distally. Inflorescence a 1–5-flowered open umbel. Flowers horizontal to half-hanging. Pedicels 10–15 x 7–10mm, densely brown-stellate scaly, becoming glabrescent. Calyx 3–4mm in diameter, disc-shaped or cup-shaped, densely stellate scaly or shallowly and obtusely 5-lobed. Corolla 20–45 x 10–18mm, most commonly dark red, at least at higher altitudes, sometimes pink or cream, rarely greenish or white; tube 15–25 x 4–7 x 6–10mm, curved or straight, at first densely covered with golden-brown stellate scales outside, completely glabrous inside; lobes 7–12 x 6–11mm, spreading perpendicularly, sub-circular, overlapping ½–2⁄3, scaly on the proximal part outside. Stamens unequal, clustered on the upper side of the mouth, slightly exserted to c.5mm; filaments linear, red, glabrous or rarely with a few hairs; anthers 2–2.5 x c.1.2mm, obovate-oblong, brown to dark red. Disc low, without simple hairs but sometimes with a few scales. Ovary 6–8 x 2.5–3mm, elongate-conical or sub-ovoid, densely stellate-scaly, usually abruptly tapering distally; style thick, as long as the stamens and exclusively stellate-scaly to the top at flowering, but becoming glabrescent distally as the fruit develops; stigma broadly obconical, slightly 5-lobed. Fruit 20–40 x 5–6mm, thick-fusiform, often a little wider in the distal ½, longitudinally grooved, densely brown scaly, usually with the persistent remains of the style. Seeds 2–4mm, without tails to 1.2mm, the longest tail c.1.5mm.
Indonesia, New Guinea (W), along the Main Range from the Wissel Lakes. Papua New Guinea, main range east to Mt Victoria and Mt Dayman; also on Mt Saruwaged and Bismarck Mts.
Predominantly terrestrial but also epiphytic in mossy forest and on tree-ferns in grassland.
R. schultzei Schltr., Bot. Jahr. 1918. 55: 154. R. dasylepis Schltr., Bot. Jahr. 1918. 55: 153, f.4. R. saavedranum Diels, Bot. Jahr. 1929. 62: 486. R. beyerinckianum var. longipetiolatum J.J.Sm., Nova Guinea 1936. 18: 94. R. chrysopeplon Sleumer, Bot. Jahr. 1949. 74: 540.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:75