Description

Shrub or small tree; shoots glabrous. Leaves broadly rhombic, 2-8 x 1-6.5cm, apex acute, tip blunt, upper and lower surfaces covered with long brown hairs when young, becoming glabrous on upper surface; petioles 3-10mm, densely pale brown-villous with the lower half glabrous, to densely lanate. Inflorescence 1-2-flowered; pedicels 5-I0mm, covered with brown pubescent hairs. Calyx minute. Corolla funnel-cam-panulate, 20-30mm, rose-purple, lobes c.20mm, broadly oblong. Stamens (? 5-)8-10, glabrous. Ovary densely pale brown-villous; style glabrous. Capsule 2-3mm, ovoid. ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * niphophilum * ** ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * niphophilum * ** Young shoots pubescent. Leaves small, 1.5-4.5 x 1.2-3cm, apex obtuse. Capsule suberect, cylindrical. ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * niphophilum * ** Leaves rhombic, 35-50 x 25-40mm, apex acute, upper and lower surfaces sparsely pilose, more densely so on midrib towards base; petioles densely lanate. Calyx c.2mm, densely villose. Stamens 10. Ovary villose; style glabrous. Capsule 10-13 x c.3mm, curved. ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * niphophilum * ** Leaves rhombic, widest at the middle. Corolla red-purple. Capsule 8-10 x 4-5mm ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * niphophilum * ** Young shoots and petioles densely lanate. Leaves sub-chartaceous, large, in fruit sparsely pubescent below. ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * nudipes * ** ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * nudipes * ** ** * Rhododendron nudipes * var. * nudipes * ** Capsule cylindrical, 13-20 x 4-5mm

Distribution

Altitude

Habitat

Nomenclatural History

Notes

References

Chamberlain, D.F. & Rae, S.J. (1990) A Revision of Rhododendron IV Subgenus Tsutsusi. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 47(2):150