Adansonia 2005. 27(2): 273.
Verified by:
Erect shrub to 4m. Twigs cylindrical, 3.5–5mm in diameter, scaly when young, rough with scale bases after the scales have fallen, whitish-green. Leaves in tight pseudowhorls of 6–8 together. Blade 60–100 x 30–55mm, mostly elliptic, occasionally ovate to obovate; apex obtuse but cuspidate or apiculate; margin entire, weakly revolute; base obtuse or rounded, occasionally acute and a little decurrent on the petiole; upper side sparsely scaly, dark green and slightly rough; underside moderately scaly, yellowish-green, scabrous with epidermal tubercles when the scales have gone. Scales reddish-brown, sub-circular to sub-stellate; centre relatively small, sessile or prolonged into a stalk which is fixed to the top of a small epidermal tubercle which remains after the scales have fallen. Mid-vein depressed above, raised below; lateral veins 10–15 per side, a little depressed above and a little raised below, reticulation obscure. Petiole 7–23mm, rigid, sub-cylindrical with a groove on the upper side, scaly, whitish-green. External bracts triangular to ovate, cuspidate to rounded at the apex, scaly and hairy outside, scaly at the margin and hairy inside; internal bracts to 45 x 6mm, elliptic to linear-spathulate, truncated to rounded at the apex, sparsely and shortly hairy on both sides, the margin scaly at the apex. Bracteoles c.38mm, linear, broader at the apex, sub-glabrous. Inflorescence of 4–10 semi-erect, scented flowers in an open umbel. Pedicels 7–10 x 1.5–2mm, densely scaly, rough. Calyx c.5mm in diameter, obliquely disc-shaped, sub-entire to obscurely 5-lobed, sparsely scaly outside, fringed with scales on the margin. Corolla 70–77 x c.45mm, the tube pink, the lobes white, trumpet-shaped; tube 46–55 x 4–6 x 7–11mm, slightly curved, sparsely scaly-papillose outside and hairy inside; lobes 23–25 x 16–17mm, obovate to elliptic, rounded or retuse at the apex, reflexed to the horizontal or a little beyond, overlapping c.halfway. Stamens unequal, exserted to 20mm from the mouth; filaments white, densely hairy at the base becoming less so upwards and glabrous for a few millimetres distally; anthers c.5 x 1.5mm, yellow, narrowly oblong, the cells rounded at the base. Disc 10-lobed, densely hairy. Ovary c.8 x 3mm, narrowly oblong, tapering to the style, densely hairy and densely scaly; style pink, exserted from the mouth, scaly in the basal ½; stigma 5-lobed.
Indonesia, New Guinea (W).
Growing at 2280m altitude at the edge of secondary forest with other ericaceous pioneers.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:107