Phil. J. Sc. 1926. 30: 419.
WFO ID: wfo-0000405649
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:333461-1
Verified by:
Shrub to 1m. Twigs 1–2mm in diameter, rounded, laxly brown scaly and minutely hairy; internodes 1–3cm. Leaves crowded into moderately dense pseudowhorls of 12–25 at the upper 3–4 nodes. Blade 25–43 x 1.5–3mm, linear, sub-sessile; apex acute to obtuse; margin flat, minutely serrulate with impressed scales when young; base tapering, glabrescent above at maturity, laxly and irregularly scaly beneath. Scales flat, sub-circular or weakly lobed; centre small, impressed. Mid-vein in a groove above, smooth below; lateral veins not visible. Petiole 1.5–2.5 x 0.75–1mm, not clearly distinct from the lamina, not grooved above, scaly. Flower buds at first conical, later ovate, acutely pointed, to 12 x 7mm, green, the bracts appressed or slightly spreading at the apex. Bracts broadly ovate, abruptly subulate at the apex, glabrous outside, or with a few scales near the apices, margin densely brown scaly, to 12 x 6mm. Bracteoles linear, laxly hairy and scaly, c.6mm. Flowers occasionally solitary, mostly 3–5 flowers in an open umbel, half-hanging although occasionally caught up in the new leaves and held semi-erect. Pedicels slender, hairy and laxly scaly, c.10mm. Calyx disc-shaped, scaly and shortly hairy outside, obtusely and shortly 5-lobed, 3–4mm in diameter. Corolla 16–20 x 20–25mm, tubular-sub-campanulate, white, without scent; tube 10 x 4 x 7–8mm, laxly sub-stellately-scaly outside, hairy within; lobes c.10 x 8mm, broadly obovate, scaly centrally near the base, apex rounded. Stamens spread evenly all round at the mouth of the corolla, not exserted, distinctly dimorphic; filaments white, linear, sub-densely to laxly patently hairy nearly to the top; anthers c.2mm, brown, oblong. Disc glabrous. Ovary c.3 x 1.5mm, sub-cylindrical, densely, patently, white-hairy, with a few scales between the hairs; style columnar, hairy below, glabrous distally, c.5mm; stigma sub-globose, green at first lying on the lower side of the tube, centrally placed in old flowers. Fruit 9–14 x 4–5mm, pale yellowish-green. Seeds 1.8–2.2mm, without tails 0.9–1mm, the longest tail 0.7mm.
Philippines, Luzon, Mt Pulag (Pulog)
Epiphytic on trees in mossy montane forest.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:205