Hooker’s Kew Journ. 5:353 (1853)
Verified by:
Straggling shrub, 1 *2-6 m, rarely epiphytic. Leaves elliptic, apex acute, base cuneate or rounded, 60-100(-150) X 19-30(-36) mm, upper surface persistently lepidote, undersurface densely so with close to distant, unequal, flat, broadly rimmed scales. Inflorescences axillary, each 2-5-flowered, but individual inflorescences often coalescing; flowers pendulous. Calyx inconspicuous, undulate, lepidote, rarely ciliate. Corolla tubular, lobes slightly flaring, deep red to salmon pink, lobes usually yellow, (14-)20-25 mm, tube (11 —) 15 —20 mm. Stamens 10, filaments pubescent for about Vi their length. Ovary lepidote, slightly pubescent at the top. Style pubescent towards the base. Capsule cylindric, lepidote, c. 10 mm
India (Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh), Bhutan, China (S Xizang)
Forests
R. keysii var. unicolor Hutchinson, Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 59: xxxix (1934). Type: a cultivated specimen (holo. K). R. igneum Cowan, Notes R.B.G. Edinb. 19:235 (1937). Type: S Tibet, 4 miles below Lung, Chayul Chu, 8500 ft, 10 vii 1936, Ludlow & Sherriff 2334 (holo. E)
Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):126