Description

Small shrub with erect or ascending branches, to 1.5 m. Young growth densely lepidote, sometimes with a few loriform hairs. Leaves narrowly elliptic to elliptic, acute or mucronate at the apex, 28-40 x 8—16 mm, slightly revolute, dark shining green above, ferrugineous beneath with dense overlapping scales. Inflorescence many-flowered, the rachis 10-20 mm, filiform-acicular pubescent, pedicels rather strict, densely lepidote. Calyx small, 5-lobed, lobes up to 1-5 mm, lepidote and loriform-ciliate. Corolla 12-15(-17) mm, tube 6-9(-10) mm, deep pink, rarely pale pink or white, lepidote and usually filiform-acicular pubescent outside. Stamens 10, filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary 5-locular, lepidote, style glabrous, up to 2 x longer than the ovary. Capsule sparsely lepidote, ± oblong, 5-7 mm.

Distribution

Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland (Alps and Pyrenees)

Altitude

Habitat

Mountain slopes, open woodland and scrub.

Nomenclatural History

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):110