Description

Erect shrub to 1-2 m. Leaves (4-)8-18(-20) X (2-)3-6(-8) mm, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, acute or obtuse, very shortly or obscurely mucronate, base cuneate, undersurface greyish with brown stippling, or more uniformly reddish brown, the scales discontiguous or contiguous in groups. Inflorescence up to 5-flowered, pedicels lepidote, 0.5-3 mm. Calyx obsolete to 2-5 mm, lobes sometimes unequal, deltoid to rounded, lepidote, margins ciliate and/or lepidote. Corolla lavender to rich purple-blue, rarely white, broadly funnel-shaped, pubescent inside and occasionally outside as well, elepidote, 7-5-13 mm, tube 2-5-5 mm. Stamens 10, .filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary lepidote, style exceeding stamens, glabrous or rarely with a few hairs at the base. Capsule oblong, up to 6 mm, lepidote.

Distribution

China (N, NW, W & C Yunnan)

Altitude

Habitat

Forest margins, open slopes, cliffs

Nomenclatural History

R. scintillans Balfour f. & W. W. Smith, Notes R.B.G. Edinb. 9:217 (1916). Type: China, Yunnan, summit of Lankong/Hochin pass, 11000 ft, v 1913, Forrest 10014 (holo. E). R. compactum Hutchinson, Gard. Chron. 91:326 (1932). Type: a cultivated specimen (holo. K)

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):102