Description

Shrub to 3 m. Young growth lepidote, purplish. Leaves oblong-ovate to oblong-elliptic, (50-)57-105 x (18-)20-40mm, acute at the apex, rounded, truncate or cuneate at the base, lepidote above with whitish, scurfy deciduous scales, the undersurface with close but not contiguous golden or brownish scales. Inflorescence (4-)6-10-flowered, pedicels lepidote. Calyx rim-like or variably lobed, sometimes with one lobe rather longer than the rest, at most 3 mm, sparsely lepidote, filiform-acicular-ciliate. Corolla funnel-shaped, white to pink, more rarely purplish, usually with reddish, greenish or brownish spots on the upper lobes, puberulous outside towards the base and at the sinuses and densely lepidote, pilose inside the tube, (22-)24-34 mm, tube (13-)16-21 mm. Stamens 10, filaments densely pilose towards the base. Ovary densely lepidote, usually puberulous in the impressed part at the base of the style. Style shorter than the longest stamens, straight, variably pubescent towards the base, rarely entirely glabrous. Capsule lepidote, cylindric, 10-14 mm. ** * Rhododendron heliolepis * var. * brevistylum * ** Leaves cuneate at the base, length/breadth ratio (2-2-)2.7-3.3 (-3.6); inflorescence (5-)6-10-flowered ** * Rhododendron heliolepis * var. * heliolepis * ** Leaves truncate or rounded at the base, length/breadth ratio 2-2-2-8(-3.3); inflorescence (4-)5-8-flowered

Distribution

Altitude

Habitat

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):89