Nova Guinea 1936. 18: 92, t.18, 2.
WFO ID: wfo-0000405659
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:333462-1
Verified by:
Shrub to 1.5m. Twigs densely covered with fragile scales on short stalks, which remain in form of small, dense warts. Leaves densely spirally arranged. Blade 6–12 x 2–3mm, narrowly elliptic, apex obtusely acuminate, margin recurved in dry specimens, the edge somewhat thickened and crenulate with impressions where the scales are attached; base tapering gradually but finally broadly tapering to rounded, shining green above and light green with brown scales beneath, glabrescent above; beneath laxly scaly, more densely so on the mid-vein, convex. Scales sessile, circular or nearly so, entire to irregularly undulate; marginal zone narrow; centre large, thick, dark and impressed. Mid-vein very slightly grooved proximally above, thick and obtusely raised beneath; lateral veins indistinct. Petiole 1.5–2mm, thick, scaly. Bracts to 6 x 3mm, narrowly ovate, apiculate; outer ones laxly scaly outside, inner ones densely hairy, ciliate along the margins. Bracteoles to 5mm, linear, hairy outside. Flowers mostly in twos, sometimes solitary, hanging vertically down. Pedicels 8–9mm, slender, sub-densely covered with shortly stalked scales and short hairs. Calyx c.3mm in diameter, oblique, small disc-shaped, wavy, shortly obtusely 5-lobed, scaly, margin laxly set with white hairs. Corolla 14–18mm, dark red; tube 10–14 x 2.5 x 5mm, cylindrical, oblique and curved, densely scaly outside, glabrous inside; lobes 2.5–3.5 x 2–3mm, sub-circular to ovate, minutely irregularly crenulate and ciliate, scaly outside except the upper part of the lobes, which bears some sparse hairs. Stamens unequal, the longest nearly equalling the corolla; filaments filiform, glabrous; anthers c.1mm, sub-elliptic. Disc glabrous. Ovary c.2.5 x 1.5mm, obliquely conical, 5-ribbed, densely scaly, gradually tapering distally; style glabrous, c.10mm; stigma thick-obconical, distinctly lobed. Fruit 8.5–12 x 2–3mm, obliquely fusiform, sparsely scaly.
Indonesia, New Guinea (W), Mt Doorman
On open slopes or summits on serpentine rocks
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:54