Description

Prostrate, tufted shrub, or forming a compact cushion, to 1 -5 m. Leaves (4-5-)7-14(-16) x (2-8-)3-6(-9) mm, oblong, broadly elliptic or ovate, apex rounded to subacute, mucronate, base cuneate or subtruncate, undersurface fawn to greyish with the scales contiguous in groups or more scattered. Inflorescence l-3(-4)-flowered, pedicels lepidote, 0.5-3 mm. Calyx 2.5-5-5 mm, lobes oblong or bluntly triangular, apex rounded or acute, scaling variable, margin usually ciliate. Corolla bright lavender-blue to pinkish or rich purple, funnel-shaped (9-5-) 10-15.5(-18) mm, tube 3-6-5(-8) mm, pubescent inside and rarely also outside, usually elepidote outside. Stamens (6-)10, filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary lepidote, occasionally with an apical tuft of hairs, style exceeding the stamens, glabrous or rarely pubescent and/or lepidote at the base. Capsule ovoid, 5-6 mm, lepidote.

Distribution

China (N & C Yunnan)

Altitude

Habitat

Open stony pastures, screes, cliffs and in forest

Nomenclatural History

R. nanum Leveille, Feddes Rep. 12:285 (1913). Type: China, Yunnan, 1911, Maire (holo. E). R. capitatum sensu Franchet, Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 32:7 (1885) non Maximowicz (see p. 107)

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):100