Reinwardtia 1960. 5: 99.
WFO ID: wfo-0000400819
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:332412-1
Verified by:
Shrub or small tree to 6m. Twigs rounded, rough with a dense covering of dark brown scales; internodes 2–10cm. Leaves 3–6 in tight pseudowhorls and with small, slender scale leaves arranged along the stems but these soon falling off. Blade 80–160 x 30–55mm, sub-sessile, ovate, or ovate-elliptic; apex shortly to long acuminate or sub-caudate, acute; margin irregularly wavy, flat; base rounded to auriculate; densely silvery scaly above, only disappearing gradually; beneath densely overlapping coppery-brown-scaly. Scales variable in size, strongly lobed, the broad margins striate; the centres large and darker especially those of the largest scales. Mid-vein slightly impressed in the proximal ½ above, strongly raised below for most of its length and especially at the base; lateral veins 8–12 per side, wide-spreading, distinctly indicated but not raised or impressed on the upper surface, slightly raised or very obscure on the lower side. Petiole to 4 x 4mm, very short, rarely longer than broad, densely brown-scaly, not or only weakly grooved above in the fresh state. Flower buds broadly ovoid with the bud scales appressed. Bracts densely scaly in a broad central band on the outer side of each bud scale and conspicuously fringed with white hairs on the margins. Bracteoles to 15mm, filiform and papillose below, spathulate and long hairy above. Inflorescence of 15–35 flowers in a complete or sometimes open umbel. Flowers standing erect to horizontal. Pedicels 15–35 x c.1mm, densely brown-scaly. Calyx a low, scaly ring. Corolla 18–25 x 30–37mm, bright orange, without scent; tube 7–12 x 5 x 5mm, densely scaly outside; lobes 16 x 16mm, widely spreading, overlapping to c.halfway and with a triangular area of scales on the outside. Stamens at first standing erect centrally in the mouth of the flower, later reflexing back away from the stigma against the corolla lobes; filaments 12–16mm, slightly broader proximally and hairy in the basal ½; anthers 3–4mm, brown. Ovary 5.5–7 x 1.5–2mm, densely scaly; style 8–12mm, scaly at the base otherwise glabrous; stigma 5-lobed, to 3mm in diameter. Fruit to 35 x 4mm. Seeds 6mm, without tails 0.9mm, the longest tail 3.5mm.
Malaysia (Borneo), Sabah, Mt Kinabalu, Mt Trus Madi and the Crocker Range. Sarawak, Mt Mulu.
Mostly terrestrial, less commonly epiphytic in mossy forest in damp shady places, but also on open exposed ridges, often common.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:114