Blumea 1963. 12: 92–93.
WFO ID: wfo-0000400676
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:332639-1
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Shrub to 1m. Twigs striate, slightly whitish when dry, variously obtusely compressed, c.3–4mm in diameter, sparsely scaly, but the scales quickly falling; internodes 6–12cm. Leaves spreading, 4–5 in tight pseudowhorls, pleasantly resinously aromatic when crushed. Blade 40–70 x 20–50mm, broadly elliptic to elliptic-obovate; apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes apiculate; margin slightly revolute in dry specimens; base broadly tapering, quickly glabrescent above, persistently sub-densely scaly beneath. Scales small, rounded, distant from each other by about their own diameter; marginal zone thin, narrow; centre small and impressed. Mid-vein narrowly impressed above, as thick as the petiole at the base; moderately raised beneath; lateral veins 6–7 per side, with some additional less conspicuous ones in between, straight, obscurely anastomosing before the margin, slightly impressed above, a little prominent or indistinct below, with no obvious reticulation. Petiole 6–9 x 1–1.5mm, densely scaly, grooved above. Flower buds to 11 x 9mm, pink, ovoid, quite smooth with all the bracts appressed. Bracts to 10 x 6mm; outer bracts ovate-acuminate, often mucronate by a small protracted apex, densely covered with thick scales and very short hairs at the base and the middle outside; inner ones spathulate, thinner, the margin minutely divided with scale stalks. Bracteoles c.12mm, linear, sparsely scaly, not hairy. Inflorescence of 4–8 flowers, the flowers with an upward curving tube so that the lobes are displayed vertically. Pedicels 10–12 x c.0.5mm, green or pink, densely scaly but without hairs. Calyx c.2.5mm in diameter, a little oblique, obscurely lobed. Corolla 40 x 25mm, white, trumpet-shaped; tube 32 x 4 x 7mm, densely white-scaly outside and distinctly fluted longitudinally to the base of the lobes, expanded mostly in the distal ½, inside densely patently white-hairy; lobes to 12 x 9mm, spreading perpendicularly, overlapping to c.1⁄3, the lateral margins often at least partially reflexed, inconspicuously scaly outside except for the margins. Stamens exserted to c.6mm, irregularly clustered in the mouth; filaments white, narrowly linear and densely, patently, white-hairy in the proximal ¾, filiform and glabrous distally; anthers c.2mm, cream, oblong, the base obtuse. Disc hardly prominent, glabrous. Ovary 4–5 x c.1.5mm, sub-cylindrical, densely scaly and sparsely patently white-hairy, tapering gradually distally; style slender, as long as the corolla tube or very slightly protruding when receptive, densely scaly and sometimes laxly patently hairy in the proximal ½, exclusively densely scaly in the distal ½; stigma sub-globose. Fruit to 20 x 6mm, pale green when immature. Seeds 3–4.2mm, without tails c.2mm, the longest tail 2mm.
Indonesia, New Guinea (W), mountain valleys above Wamena. First recorded from a temporarily flooded grass-plain on peaty soil, at 1650m, where it was reported to be locally common. It was also a common terrestrial constituent of the poor open heath-forest vegetation on white sand in the area around Wamena where it has been reported in flower in June and Oct.–Nov.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:64