Rhodo. Sikkim Himalaya t. 28 (1849)
Verified by:
Shrub to 2 m, epiphytic or growing on rocks. Young growth lepidote. Leaves narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic, bluntly acute at the apex, tapering to a shortly rounded base, (53-)60-90(-105) x (16-)20-30(-37) mm, shining dark green above with few, dried-out scales, pale green to brownish beneath with a dense covering of almost contiguous, broadly rimmed scales of which a few are larger and darker than the rest. Inflorescence 1-2-flowered, pedicels densely lepidote. Calyx lobes oblong, rounded at the apex, 5-8 mm, lepidote or not on the surface, fringed with scales. Corolla waxy, with a short, broad tube, white to deep rose, rarely with a whitish or yellowish zone within at the base, lepidote outside, villous within, 14-18(-20) mm, tube 8-10 mm. Ovary 5-10-locular, lepidote, style usually shorter than the stamens. Capsule ovoid, lepidote, tapered to the apex, 7-11(-13) mm
Nepal, India (Sikkim), Bhutan
Forest and forest margins, cliffs
R. sparsiflorum Nuttall in Hooker’s Kew Journ. 5:363 (1853). Type: ‘Bootan’(i.e. India, Arunachal Pradesh, cf. Ludlow, Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 41:362, 1972), Booth (holo. K). R. cooperi Balfour f., Notes R.B.G. Edinb. 10:91 (1917). Type: Bhutan, Ridang, Angduphorang, 9000 ft, 8 vi 1915, Cooper 3959 (holo. E)
Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):138