Bot. Mag. 160: t. 9492 (1937)
Verified by:
Spindly, thin, branched shrub to 1 m. Leaf-bud scales deciduous. Leaves oblong or elliptic-oblong, 13-28 x 6-12 mm, rounded to the base and the subacute apex, upper surface usually persistently lepidote, lower surface fawn to pale brown with dense, ± overlapping, plastered scales, all similar and pale brown, most with well-developed domed centres. Inflorescence many-flowered, pedicels short, lepidote. Calyx lobes 3-4 mm, ± oblong or somewhat obovate, lepidote or elepidote, glabrous outside, margins loriform-ciliate, sometimes with scales as well, inner surface glabrous. Corolla pink to red, rarely pinkish white, tube 6-8 mm, lobes 2-5-4 mm, tube variably pilose outside, densely pilose at the mouth inside and sometimes also well down into the tube. Stamens 5. Ovary lepidote. Capsule lepidote, scarcely exceeding the calyx.
China (S Xizang)
Cliffs, moraines, rocky slopes and moorland, occasionally in marshy places, 3200-4700 m
Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):163