Description

Distribution

China (N & NW Yunnan, SW Sichuan)

Altitude

Habitat

Alpine pasture, forest margins

Nomenclatural History

R. cantabile [Balfour f. ex] Hutchinson, Bot. Mag. t. 8963 (1922). Type: a cultivated specimen (holo. K). R. osmerum Balfour f. & Forrest in Stevenson (ed.), The Species of Rhododendron 425 (1930) in synon., nom. nud. Shrub, 0-3-1-5 m. Leaves 16-40 x 6-5-17 mm, narrowly to broadly elliptic or oblong, apex obtuse or rounded, mucronate, base cuneate, the undersurface heavily speckled brown or rust or almost uniformly red-brown, the scales contiguous or almost so, the colour varying from pale to dark brown on the one leaf. Inflorescence up to 6-flowered, pedicels lepidote, l-2(-5) mm. Calyx lobes up to 6 mm, broadly oblong, with a few scales at the base and in a central band or ± elepidote, margin ciliate and sometimes with a few scales. Corolla deep indigo blue, purple, pink or rose, broadly funnel-shaped, 10-20 mm, tube 4-9 mm, pubescent in the throat and often also on the outside, elepidote. Stamens 10, filaments pubescent towards the base. Ovary lepidote and sometimes with a tuft of hairs at the apex, style 14-20 mm, pubescent for up to Vi its length, sometimes sparingly. Capsule ovoid, c. 6 mm, lepidote, usually with persistent apical hairs.

Notes

References

Cullen, J. (1980) A Revision of Rhododendron 1: Subgenus Rhododendron sections Rhododendron & Pogonanthum. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(1):108