Fedde Rep. 1914. 13: 222.
Verified by:
Small shrub to 1.2m. Twigs 1.5–2mm in diameter, rounded, laxly scaly, becoming glabrescent, smooth; internodes 4–11cm. Leaves 2–4 together in tight pseudowhorls at the upper 2 or 3 nodes, sub-sessile. Blade 40–110 x 25–65mm, ovate; apex shortly or long-acuminate; margin entire, flat, slightly recurved when dry; base cordate to rounded; laxly scaly initially, glabrescent above, persistently scaly beneath. Scales flat, small, the thin marginal zone large, irregularly and deeply divided; centre darker, small, slightly impressed. Mid-vein narrow and deeply grooved above, strong and prominent beneath; lateral veins 4–6 per side, curved-ascending and joining, weakly or not impressed above, slightly prominent beneath; densely reticulate. Petiole 1–2 x 1–2mm, flattened, scaly. Flower buds to 20 x 12mm, ovate, smooth. Bracts to 20 x 8mm, outer ovate, the apex abruptly subulate or mucronate, very shortly appressed hairy outside and with a few scales distally in the central area; inner ones ovate, apiculate or obtuse, appressed-hairy in the upper part outside, margin minutely irregular and with fragile scales. Bracteoles to 20 x 5mm, linear below, spathulate towards the apex, laxly hairy, often with a few irregular teeth apically and with a few stalked scales on the margins. Inflorescence an open umbel of 2–5 flowers. Pedicels 15–25 x c.2mm, red, densely patently hairy, with few or no scales. Calyx 3–4mm in diameter, disc-shaped, densely hairy outside, with 5 short, obtuse ciliate lobes or occasionally longer up to 5mm. Corolla 30–45 x 25–35mm, tubular below, expanded and oblique at the lobes, bicoloured with a yellow tube and orange lobes, without scent; tube 20–25 x 6–7 x 12–18mm, yellow at the base or throughout, orange distally, densely long-hairy both inside and out, without scales; lobes 13–18 x 10–18mm, obovate-spathulate or sub-circular, hairy outside. Stamens exserted to 12mm, clustered on the upper side, unequal; filaments linear, densely patently hairy in the proximal ¼–1⁄3, glabrous distally; anthers 2–2.5mm, obovoid, apex truncate. Disc densely hairy in the upper ½. Ovary 5–7 x 2.5–3mm, cylindrical, continuous with the style, shortly hairy; style as long as the stamens, densely hairy to nearly the top; stigma oblique, rounded or weakly lobed. Fruit 30–35 x c.5mm, sub-cylindrical, widest in the upper 1⁄3, slightly curved, laxly hairy, valves thin, becoming twisted. Seeds 6–7mm, without tails 0.8mm, the longest tail 3.5mm.
Papua New Guinea, New Guinea (E), Mt Saruwaged and vicinity; Eastern, Western and Southern Highlands; Simbu District; Wharton Range; Finisterre Mts (Madang District). Indonesia, New Guinea (W), Wamena R.; Ibele valley.
Mostly epiphytic in mossy forest and on grassland tree-ferns, or terrestrial in open forest or rock faces on cliffs
R. christi var. loniceroides Schltr., Bot. Jahr. 1918. 55: 155. R. aff. wentianum Stonor, Rhod. Yearbook 1951. 6: 50, f.54. R. christii Foerster orth. var., Chamberlain et al., The Genus Rhododendron 1996. 17, 103.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:301