Reinwardtia 1960. 5: 208.
WFO ID: wfo-0000403012
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:332224-1
Verified by:
Erect shrub to 2m. Twigs 2–4mm in diameter, semi-rounded, laxly and deciduously sub-stellately scaly when young, sometimes whitish; internodes 2–11cm. Leaves 4–5 together in pseudowhorls. Blade 35–90 x 25–50mm, elliptic to sub-obovate-elliptic; apex broadly tapering or very shortly sub-abruptly acuminate, obtuse, sometimes rounded; margin narrowly but distinctly revolute; base broadly tapering, glabrescent above when mature, laxly, sub-persistently scaly beneath. Scales minute, marginal zone irregularly sub-stellately lobed; centre slightly impressed. Mid-vein narrowly impressed above, thick and obtusely prominent beneath; lateral veins 5–9 per side, spreading, sometimes irregular, often divided before the margin, mostly sub-parallel to each other and distinctly curved-anastomosing, slightly impressed above, somewhat raised beneath, reticulation faintly impressed above in old leaves, often inconspicuous. Petiole 10–23 x 1–2mm, semi-rounded, grooved above. Bracts to 20 x 15mm; outer bracts ovate, sub-acuminate, or circular, scaly along the midline distally outside; inner bracts obovate to spathulate, glabrescent or glabrous apart from marginal scales. Bracteoles 15 x 0.5–1.5mm, linear-spathulate, glabrous. Inflorescence an open 8–13-flowered umbel. Pedicels 20–30 x c.1mm, densely sub-stellately scaly. Calyx c.3mm in diameter, obliquely disc-shaped, shortly and bluntly 5-lobed, scaly outside. Corolla 40–48 x 50mm, funnel-shaped, white, scented; tube c.25 x 5–6 x 8–12mm, straight, sub-cylindrical, lobed at the base, laxly to sub-densely covered with minute sub-stellate scales outside, shortly hairy inside; lobes 15–20 x 15–20mm, broadly obovate or sub-circular, spreading. Stamens sub-equal, exserted; filaments linear and laxly patently hairy in the lower 2⁄3, more filiform and glabrous distally; anthers 3–3.5 x 0.8mm, narrowly oblong. Disc low, glabrous. Ovary 5–6 x c.2mm, sub-cylindrical, densely covered with forwardly directed hairs which cover the scales, tapering distally; style slightly shorter than the stamens, densely hairy and scaly for the proximal ¾, scaly at the apex; stigma deeply 5-lobed. Fruit 30–35 x 5–6mm, sub-cylindrical. Seeds very narrow, 4–5mm including the long tails.
Papua New Guinea, Milne Bay District, Sudest I., on Mt Riu
Scattered in stiff scrub on the summit and on cliffs.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:299