J. As. Soc. Beng. 1905. 74(2): 76.
WFO ID: wfo-0000405378
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:333315-1
Verified by:
Shrub or small tree. Twigs rounded, the youngest parts red-brown with dense scales and minutely patently hairy; internodes 1.5–5cm. Leaves 3–7 together in well-marked pseudowhorls. Blade 25–35 x 15–30mm, elliptic, broadly elliptic, obovate to sub-circular; apex obtuse to rounded and with a small terminal gland, sometimes a little emarginate; margin strongly recurved; base tapering; upper surface light green, glabrescent, shining, undersurface yellowish when fresh, paler brown when dry, densely scaly. Scales sessile, round; marginal zone narrow, entire or nearly so; centre thick, dark, large and impressed. Mid-vein impressed above, thick and obtusely prominent beneath; lateral veins 4–6 per side, spreading at a wide angle (45–90°), sometimes obscure, anastomosing, slightly to deeply depressed above, distinct and raised beneath, reticulation obscure. Petiole 2–5 x 1.5–2mm, grooved above, brown-scaly except in the groove which is minutely but densely patently hairy. Bracts to 7 x 4mm, ovate to spathulate, obtuse, scaly and hairy distally outside, ciliate on the margins. Bracteoles to 5mm, linear, slightly hairy. Inflorescence a 4–7-flowered open umbel. Pedicels 15–20mm, densely scaly, without hairs. Calyx short-cupular, scaly, with 5 ovate, obtuse, lobes sometimes ciliate on the margins. Corolla c.18 x 15–20mm, yellow, sometimes paler, white, or yellow at the lobes, orange at the tube, funnel-shaped; tube 9–14 x 3–4 x 8–10mm, densely covered with dark scales, glabrous inside; lobes 6–8 x 5–7mm, broadly obovate to sub-circular, overlapping up to ¼. Stamens unequal, the longest exserted to 8mm; filaments linear, dilated to 0.5mm at the base, filiform upwards, glabrous; anthers c.1.8mm, oblong. Disc glabrous. Ovary c.2.8 x 1.8mm, conical, densely covered with scales, gradually tapering distally; style glabrous, becoming exserted; stigma conical-globose, slightly 5-lobed. Fruit 10–13 x 3.5mm, cylindrical, shortly apiculate, densely scaly.
Malaysia (W), Main Range from Perak to Selangor. A record for Borneo was from a misidentification of R. buxoides.
Epiphytic or terrestrial shrub in summit vegetation, sometimes regenerating along roadside cuttings
R. orion Ridl., J. Fed. Mal. St. Mus. 1914. 5: 39.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:41