Description

Shrub or small tree, 1-6 m. Young growth densely lepidote. Leaves narrowly elliptic to very narrowly elliptic, 50-100 X 15-30 mm, cuneate at base, acute to somewhat rounded at apex, upper surface dark green, lepidote or elepidote, glabrous, lower surface very densely covered with large, flat, overlapping, flaky scales, dark brown or yellowish brown. Inflorescences 3-4-flowered, pedicels lepidote, 9-15 mm. Calyx minute, undulate, lepidote, rarely filiform-acicular-ciliate. Corolla purple, 25-31 mm, tube 10-15 mm, lepidote outside. Stamens 10, filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary lepidote, somewhat pubescent at apex. Style glabrous. Capsule narrowly cylindric, c. 15 mm.

Distribution

China (NW & SW Sichuan)

Altitude

Habitat

Woods and thickets

Nomenclatural History

R. harrovianum Hemsley, Gard. Chron. 47:4 (1910). 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):76