Nova Guinea 1936. 18: 91, t.18, 1.
WFO ID: wfo-0000400807
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:332383-1
Verified by:
Erect or spreading shrub to 2m. Twigs densely covered with stalked scales, the lower parts rough where the scales have gone and the stalks remain. Leaves spiral, often somewhat crowded in the upper part of the twigs. Blade 6–13 x 2–4mm, narrowly obovate; apex obtuse or mostly rounded, often slightly retuse; margin revolute; base gradually tapering, dark green above, paler beneath, glabrescent above, laxly scaly beneath. Scales circular, their marginal zone narrow, entire; centre darker, thick, slightly impressed. Mid-vein slightly or not impressed above, raised beneath; lateral veins not visible. Petiole 1–1.5mm. Bracts to 4 x 3mm, ovate, apiculate, hairy and laxly scaly outside, shortly white-ciliate on the margins. Bracteoles to 5mm, filiform. Inflorescence of solitary flowers, hanging vertically. Pedicels 8–10mm, laxly to sub-densely covered with scales and minute white, patent hairs. Calyx small, disc-like, 5-angular or shortly obtusely 5-lobed, scaly. Corolla c.20 x 10mm, tubular, somewhat curved and a little compressed laterally, deep pink to dark red; tube 15–18 x 3–4 x 5–6mm, laxly scaly outside, glabrous inside; lobes c.3–4 x c.3mm, unequal, minutely hairy distally outside, ovate or ovate-elliptic, the apex rounded and minutely irregularly denticulate. Stamens unequal, some slightly exserted from the corolla; filaments narrowly linear, glabrous; anthers c.1.2mm. Disc glabrous. Ovary c.3mm, obliquely conical, longitudinally 5-grooved, densely scaly, tapering distally; style c.13mm, glabrous, somewhat thickened distally to the club-shaped irregularly lobed stigma. Fruit 8–15 x c.3mm, sub-cylindrical, deeply 5-grooved. Seeds 0.15–2mm, shortly tailed at both ends.
Indonesia, New Guinea (W), Vogelkop Peninsula, Arfak Mts, Tohkiri, Tamrau and Nettoti Range. Epiphytic or terrestrial, rare on a burnt open summit, mostly on the edge of moss forest, or summit scrub on peaty soil
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:57