Bot. Calif. 1: 458 (1876)
Verified by:
Shrub or small tree to 8(-10)m tall, usually non-rhizomatous; young twigs red-brown, rarely yellow-brown, grey or glaucous, sparsely to densely covered with unicellular hairs and multicellular gland-tipped hairs or glabrous, occasionally sparsely to densely covered with only unicellular hairs. Vegetative bud scales glabrous or sparsely covered with unicellular hairs and multicellular eglandular hairs abaxialiy; margin unicellular-ciliate or glandular. Leaf blade membranaceous, ovate or obovate to elliptic, (2.5-)3.5-8.2(-10.8) x (0.8-)1.2-2.9(-3.6)cm; base acute to obhque; apex acute to obtuse, often mucronate; adaxial surface sparsely covered with unicellular hairs and multicellular eglandular or gland-tipped hairs, with only multicellular eglandular hairs, the multicellular gland-tipped hairs, or both, or glabrous, the midvein densely covered with unicellular hairs, rarely also with multicellular gland-tipped hairs or eglandular hairs; abaxial surface glabrous, sparsely covered with unicellular hairs, multicellular gland-tipped hairs or both, rarely with multicellular eglandular and glandular hairs, midvein sparsely covered with multicellular eglandular hairs or with unicellular hairs and multicellular gland-tipped hairs, rarely with unicellular hairs and multicellular eglandular hairs or with only multicellular gland-tipped hairs; margin entire, ciMate with multicellular eglandular hairs or with multicellular eglandular and gland-tipped hairs; petiole (0.1-)0.2-0.5(-1.0)cm long, sparsely to densely covered with unicellular hairs and multicellular eglandular or gland-tipped hairs, rarely with all three types of hairs. Flower bud scales chestnut brown; abaxial surface sparsely to densely covered with unicellular hairs, rarely also with sparse multicellular eglandular or gland-tipped hairs; margin unicellular-ciliate or glandular. Flowers appearing with the leaves or after they have expanded; inflorescence a shortened raceme of 3 to 15 flowers. Pedicels (0.9-)l.l-2.0(-2.6)cm long, covered with multicellular gland-tipped hairs, occasionally with multicellular eglandular hairs. Sepals 0. l-0.4(-0.9)cm long, often varying in length on the same flower; margins glandular-fimbriate, rarely setose; abaxial surface sparsely to densely covered with unicellular hairs and multicellular gland-tipped hairs or with only multicellular gland-tipped hairs, occasionally glabrous or with unicellular hairs and multicellular eglandular hairs, rarely with only multicellular eglandular hairs. Corolla white, with a yellow blotch on the upper corolla lobe, white and pink or salmon, or pink with an orange blotch on the upper corolla lobe, rarely white with yellow lines at the throat, or with the tube white to red, fragrance sweet or mephitic, the tube longer than the Emb and gradually expanding into it; upper corolla lobe (1.3-) 1.4-2.3(-2.8) x 1.2-2.1(-2.6)cm; lateral lobes (1.5-)1.7-2.4(-2.9) x (0.7-)0.9-1.4(-1.7)cm; corolla tube (1.5-)1.8-2.6(-2.9)cm long, (0.2-)0.3-0.5(-0.6)cm wide at base; outer surface of corolla sparsely to densely covered with unicellular hairs arid multicellular gland-tipped hairs that continue up the corolla lobes, rarely also with multicellular eglandular hairs; inner surface of corolla sparsely to densely covered with unicellular hairs, occasionally glabrous. Stamens (4.0-)4.6-6.3(-7.5)cm long, with dense terete or flattened unicellular hairs on proximal (1.8-)2.1-3.3(-3.6)cm of filament, exserted (2.4-)3.0-4.2(-4.7)cm beyond throat of corolla. Style (4.1-)4.6-6.6(-8.2)cm long, exserted (2.6-)3.3-4.8(-5.3)cm beyond throat of corolla, with dense unicellular hairs on the proximal (0.2-)0.3-L0(-L3)cm; stigma 0.1-0.3cm wide. Ovary 0.2-0.4(-0.5)cm long, (0. l-)0.2-0.3(-0.4)cm wide at the base, densely covered with unicellular hairs and multicellular eglandular and gland-tipped hairs, or lacking multicellular eglandular hairs, with a dense crown of unicellular hairs along the nectary, rarely with only multicellular eglandular or gland-tipped hairs or both. Capsules (1.2-)1.3-1.8(-2.2) x (0.4-)0.5-1.0(-1.4)cm, sparsely covered with unicellular hairs and with multicellular eglandular or gland-tipped hairs. Seeds pale to dark chestnut brown, ovate or elliptic to fusiform, (1.0-)1.5-2.3(-3.0) x(0.5-)0.7-l.l(-1.5)mm,body(0.6-)0.8-1.4(-1.6)x(0.2-)0.3-0.5(-0.7)mm; testa expanded and dorsiventrally flattened, surrounding the body, the cells essentially isodiametric, with transverse end-walls
South-western Oregon to southern California
Moist wooded slopes and canyon bottoms, along rivers and streams, shrub thickets, Darlingtonia bogs, serpentine ridges, ocean bluffs
Azalea occidentalis Tour. & A. Gray, Pac. R. R. Rep. 4:116 (1856). Type: CaMfornia, Sonoma Co.: Laguna de Santa Rosa, 1 v 1856, Bigelow s.n. (lecto., designated here, NY; isolecto. NY). Azalea californica Torr. & A. Gray ex Durand, in J. Acad. Phil. ser. 2, 3: 94 (1855). Type: California, Nevada Co.: shady hills along Deer Creek, H. Pratten s.n. (holo. P-DU). Azalea nudiflora L. var. ciliata Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1:60 (1855). Type: (probably destroyed). Rhododendron sonomense Greene, Pittonia 2: 172 (1891). R. occidentale (Torr. & A. Gray) A. Gray var. sonomense (Greene) Rehder, Monogr. Azaleas 127 (1921) (holo. ND-G, n.v.). Rhododendron occidentale (Ton*. & A. Gray) A. Gray var. paludosum Jepson, Man. FL PL Calif. 741 (1925). Type: California, Fortuna, 1916, Jepson s.n. (holo. n.v.).
Kron, K.A. (1993) A Revision of Rhododendron Section Pentanthera. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 50(3):317