Description

Shrub or small tree, 2-5m. Leaves coriaceous, oblanceolate to elliptic, 10-18 x 3.2—5.5cm, 3—3.3 x as long as broad, apiculate, upper surface glabrous when mature, veins deeply impressed, lower surface with a bistrate indumentum more or less covering the veins, the lower layer adpressed and whitish, the upper loose and lanate, hairs ramiform, yellowish at first, becoming white or greyish, persistent; petioles l-2cm, tomentose. Inflorescence 7—12-flowered; rhachis 3-5mm; pedicels c.lOmm, densely tomentose. Calyx c.lmm, lobes minute. Corolla broadly campanulate, magenta-rose fading pale pink, with crimson flecks and a basal blotch, c.40mm. Ovary densely tomentose; style glabrous. Capsule 20-30 x c.lOmm, cylindrical, sometimes slightly curved.

Distribution

China (Sichuan)

Altitude

Habitat

Woodlands

Nomenclatural History

Notes

References

Chamberlain, D.F. (1982) A Revision of Rhododendron II. Subgenus Hymenanthes. Notes From the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(2):320