Rhododendrons As. Or. 45 (1870) pro parte.
Verified by:
Shrub to 4 m high, young branches and petioles minutely puberulous and sometimes also with glandular hairs. Leaves glabrous except for the petiole and upper mid-rib; blade broadly ovate or ovate elliptic, 30-60 x 16-26 mm, base rounded or cuneate, apex acute or obtuse, often emarginate, mucronate; petiole 6-16 mm long. Inflorescence buds lateral, 1-flowered, clustered near the ends of the leafy shoots; outer bud scales short, inner elongate (12-14 mm long); pedicel 15-20 mm long, puberulous and with few to many glandular hairs. Calyx lobes usually broadly rounded, 4-7 x 3-4 mm, glabrous or fringed with fine cilia and/or sessile or stalked glandular hairs. Corolla pink to pale purple or white, the upper three lobes with darker spots, glabrous or the tube minutely puberulous on the outside and/or within, rotate, with a short tube and spreading lobes, 40-50 mm across. Stamens 5, filaments hairy for a variable distance above the base. Ovary subglobose, c.2-5 mm high, setose and glandular, 5-Iocular; style glabrous. Capsule broadly ovoid, c.7 x 5 mm, verrucose.
China (Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi), Taiwan (central mountains).
In thickets and forests, and on open mountainsides, mostly at low altitudes, but reaching 2000 m in Hubei.
Philipson, W.R. & Philipson, M.N. (1986) A Revision of Rhododendron III. Subgenera Azaleastrum, Mumeazalea, Candidastrum and Therorhodion. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 44(1):4