Description

Much branched prostrate or erect shrub to 1 m. Leaves 4-20(-25) x 2-7(-9) mm, oblong-elliptic to elliptic-ovate, apex obtuse or rounded, mucronate (sometimes obscurely so), base cuneate, undersurface fawn to ferrugineous, the contiguous scales bicolorous, either straw-coloured to fawn, or ferrugineous, the two colours occurring in various proportions. Inflorescence 3-6-flowered, pedicels lepidote, 3-12 mm. Calyx 1-2 mm, lobes deltoid, variably lepidote, margin ciliate. Corolla violet-rose to purple or sometimes white, broadly funnel-shaped, pubescent in the throat, (6-5-)7-5-14(-15) mm, tube (1-5-)2-5(-6) mm. Stamens 5-10, filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary lepidote, style 10.5-15 mm, exceeding the stamens, glabrous. Capsule ovoid, 4-6 mm, lepidote.

Distribution

Scandinavia, ussr (Siberia), usa (Alaska), Canada, Greenland, with outliers in c USA and Canada (British Columbia)

Altitude

Habitat

Nomenclatural History

Azalea lapponica Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 151 (1753). Described from Lapland. A. ferruginosa Pallas, Fl. Ross. 2: pi. 70 fig. 1A, B (1788). R. parvifolium Adams, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 9:237 (1834). R. palustre Turczaninow in Bull. Sci. Nat. Mosc. 11:96 (1838). R. parviflorum F. Schmidt, Fl. Sachal. 158 (1868).. Azalea parvifolia (Adams) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 2:387 (1891). R. confertissimum Nakai, Bot. Mag. Tokyo 31:239 (1917)

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):107