Description

Erect, straggling shrub up to 1-6 m. Leaves (8-)12—21 X 4-7(-8) mm, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, apex rounded, obscurely mucronate, usually emarginate, base broadly cuneate, undersurface pale with tan speckling, with irregularly contiguous or slightly discontiguous colourless, straw or buff scales with some larger, darker scales dispersed among them. Inflorescence l-3(-5)-flowered, pedicel pubescent and lepidote, 1-2 mm. Calyx lobes l-2(-4) mm, triangular to irregularly rounded, outer surface lepidote, margin lepidote and with a few cilia. Corolla pinkish purple, magenta, deep violet or occasionally white, pubescent in the throat and rarely so on the outer surface, (9.5-)10.5-13(-17) mm, tube 2-5—3(—5) mm, lobes with pale scales on the outer surface. Stamens (8-)10. Ovary lepidote, style 12-17 mm, usually exceeding the stamens, usually pubescent and with a few scales towards the base. Capsule ovoid, lepidote, c. 5 mm.

Distribution

China (S Sl SW Xizang—Tsangpo valley)

Altitude

Habitat

Open woodland, scrubby and wooded hillsides

Nomenclatural History

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):104