Vict. Nat. 1887. 3: 157.
Verified by:
Shrub or small tree to 6.5m. Twigs 2–4mm in diameter, rounded, sub-densely to laxly scaly, quickly glabrescent; internodes 1–10cm. Leaves 3–5 together in tight pseudowhorls. Blade 50–90 x 30–50mm, broadly elliptic, occasionally sub-obovate; apex acute to rounded or sometimes minutely emarginate, with a small pale gland which rarely slightly protrudes; margin entire, flat or weakly revolute; base broadly tapering to rounded; laxly scaly and quickly glabrescent above; sub-densely and more persistently brown-scaly below. Scales round or weakly lobed with a broad flange and relatively small centre, impressed. Mid-vein impressed above in the proximal ½, smooth distally; below raised proximally, gradually becoming less so and finally smooth in the distal ¼; lateral veins 5–9 per side, minutely impressed above, smooth below, looping and joining before the margin, reticulation loose and weak, more clearly visible beneath. Petiole 10–20 x 2–3mm, distinctly grooved above, especially distally, densely brown scaly. Inflorescence a 2–6-flowered open umbel, the flowers mostly semi-erect. Pedicels 10–40 x c.1.5mm, scaly often more densely so distally. Calyx a disc or 5-lobed up to 8 x 3.5mm, pink. Corolla 25–55 x 35–45mm, red or pink, without scent; tube 25–40 x 7–11 x 10–20mm, scaly outside, glabrous inside; lobes 15–20 x 15–22mm, spreading horizontally, to slightly reflexed, overlapping ½–2⁄3. Stamens loosely clustered on the upper side of the mouth, not or hardly exserted, slightly dimorphic; filaments 22–31 and 21–30mm, glabrous; anthers c.2mm, oblong, pale brown. Disc green, glabrous or hairy. Ovary 3.5–5 x 2–3mm, sub-cylindrical, tapering distally, densely scaly and sometimes hairy; style scaly and sometimes hairy as well in the proximal 1⁄3–½, glabrous distally, held on the upper side of the tube; stigma rounded. Fruit 20–25 x 4–5mm, fusiform. Seeds 2.5–3mm, including the tails.
Australia, Bellenden Ker Range, also probably on Bell Peak in the Malbon Thompson Range.
Terrestrial in stunted montane forest and shrubberies amongst rocks.
Azalea lochae (F.Muell.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 1891. 387. R. notiale Craven, Edinb. J. Bot. 1996. 53(1): 33.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:324