Description

Much branched spreading shrub to 15 cm. Leaves 8-12 x 3-6 mm, elliptic to ovate, apex obtuse, mucronate, base broadly cuneate, undersurface bicolorous, densely covered with pale golden scales mixed with darker, amber scales. Inflorescence 3-8-flowered, pedicel lepidote and minutely pubescent, (l-)2-3-5 mm. Calyx lobes rounded to triangular, c. 0-5 mm, lepidote, margin ciliate. Corolla rosy violet, narrowly funnel-shaped, 12-15 mm, tube 5-7 mm, pubescent in the throat. Stamens (5-)7(-10), shorter than corolla, filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary lepidote, style 3-4 mm, shorter than the stamens. Capsule ovoid, lepidote, c. 6 mm.

Distribution

USSR (eastern Sajan mountains to the west of the southern end of Lake Baikal)

Altitude

Habitat

Moist places in Larch forests.

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):106