Description

Shrub to 3 m or more. Leaves oblong-elliptic or narrowly oblong-elliptic, tapering to a rather abruptly rounded apex, narrowing to the base, 100-130x 31-50 mm, petioles loriform-setose when young, the setae variably deciduous, undersurface brownish or greyish green with unequal brownish scales about their own diameter apart. Inflorescence 2-3-flowered, pedicels 10-15 mm, apparently accrescent in fruit, densely lepidote. Calyx conspicuous, lobed from Vi-lA of its length, the lobes broadly deltoid or oblong, rounded at the apex, 10-12 X 6 mm, accrescent in fruit and becoming papery, lepidote at the base only. Corolla narrowly funnel-campanulate, white, 60-80 mm, tube 40-55 mm, the whole rather densely lepidote outside. Stamens 10, filaments pubescent in the lower part. Ovary lepidote, tapered into the style which is lepidote in the lower part. Capsule lepidote, cylindric-fusiform, 30-35 x 12 mm, exceeding the persistent calyx, weakly 5-ridged.

Distribution

China (Guizhou, Guanxi)

Altitude

Habitat

Scrub, rocky slopes, open forest

Nomenclatural History

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):38