Description

Shrub, 2-5(-8)m; young shoots glabrous. Leaves oblanceolate to broadly elliptic, 6-18 x 2.4-5.5cm, 1.8-5 x as long as broad, apex acute to acuminate, base ± rounded to cuneate, upper and lower surfaces glabrous when mature; petioles l-2cm, glabrous or with a few stipitate glands and a sparse floccose tomentum. Inflorescence 8-20-flowered; rhachis 10-50mm, glabrous or more rarely velutinous to ± lanate; pedicels 30-35mm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular. Calyx l-2mm, glabrous, lobes shallowly triangular. Corolla campanulate, lilac-pink to purple, usually with greenish-yellow flecks, 35-50mm. Ovary and style glabrous. Capsule 15-25 x 3-4mm.

Distribution

SPAIN, PORTUGAL, BULGARIA, N TURKEY, USSR (W Caucasia), LEBANON.

Altitude

Habitat

Forests, Rhododendron thickets

Nomenclatural History

R. lancifotium Moench, Meth. 45 (1794), nomen illegit. R. speciosum Salisbury, Prodr. 287 (1796), nomen illegit. R. parviflorum Dumont de Courset, Bot. Cult. ed. 2,1: 253 (1811). No type designated. R. algarvense Page, Prodr. Southampt. Gard. 38 (1817), nomen nudum. R. baeticum Boissier & Reuter in Boissier, Diagn. Ser. 2,3: 118 (1856). Type: Spain, in montibus Baeticae australibus circa Algeciras et Tarife, Boissier & Reuter, n.v. ?R. adansonii Pepin, Ann. Fl. Pomone 304, t. (1859). R. ponticum L. var. brachycarpum Boissier, Fl. Or. 3: 972 (1875). Syntypes: Lebanon, Labillardiere; inter Zachle et Beckfaya, Boissier, in monte Sanin, Ehrhardt; in valle Hamama, Mart., n.v. R. ponticum L. subsp. baeticum (Boissier & Reuter) Handel-Mazzetti, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 23: 53 (1909).

Notes

References

Chamberlain, D.F. (1982) A Revision of Rhododendron II. Subgenus Hymenanthes. Notes From the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(2):313