J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 1969. 65: 744.
Verified by:
Shrub to 1.5m. Twigs slender, spreading, rounded, rough, densely white-scaly, quickly glabrescent; internodes 3–8.5cm with 1–2 deciduous scale leaves. Leaves in tight pseudowhorls of 5–9. Blade 15–30 x 5–12mm, elliptic to obovate, sub-sessile; apex acute to sub-obtuse, shortly apiculate; margin entire, cartilaginous, recurved when dry; base tapering; densely scaly above at first but quickly glabrescent, dark green; below sparsely brown-scaly, pale green. Scales circular or sub-circular, moderately dense, with a broad marginal zone and small centre. Mid-vein prominent, impressed above, raised beneath; lateral veins 3–4 per side, impressed above, obscure beneath. Petiole 2–3 x c.1.5mm, grooved above, sparsely scaly. Bud to 10 x 8mm, green, smooth, sub-spherical. Bracts to 5–8 x 3–6mm, outer ovate mucronate, inner larger, sub-hemispherical, deeply concave, cuspidate, shortly and irregularly ciliate along the margins and sometimes with a few scales. Bracteoles c.10.5 x 0.6mm, subulate with long stalked brown scales around the margins. Inflorescence a 2–6-flowered umbel. Pedicels 10–20mm, slender, slightly curved, densely silvery scaly. Calyx of low triangular lobes to 1 x 1.5mm, densely pale brown scaly outside and with a fringe of scales. Corolla c.10 x 15–25mm, campanulate, white, fleshy; tube 3.5–8 x c.4 x c.8mm, sparsely scaly outside, hairy inside in a broad band just above the base; lobes 6–8 x 5–8mm, sparsely scaly outside, rounded or broadly oblong, sub-acute, or obtuse, erect gradually becoming reflexed. Stamens c.12mm, slightly dimorphic, exserted to 7mm; filaments white, hairy in the middle; anthers c.2.5mm, oblong, cream with brown margins to the pores. Disc circular, 10-lobed, glabrous. Ovary c.5 x 2.5mm, ovoid, 5-ridged, densely scaly; style c.5mm, thick, bent to the lower side of the flower, glabrous, slightly enlarged upwards, often becoming deciduous later; stigma truncate. Fruit 20–27 x 4–5mm, straight, spindle-shaped with persistent brown scales; splitting without peeling an irregular layer but the outer layer sometimes separating after the capsule has split; valves opening to a wide angle and the placentae opening lantern-like. Seeds to 11mm, without tails 1.2mm, the longest tail 5.5mm, the tails extremely slender, filiform and wavy.
India: Arunachal Pradesh
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:29