Reinwardtia 1960. 5: 91.
WFO ID: wfo-0000405644
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:333511-1
Verified by:
Small shrub. Twigs slender, 1.5–2.5mm in diameter, scaly at the tips at first, otherwise minutely rough from the scale bases; internodes 2–4cm. Leaves 3–4 together in pseudowhorls at the upper nodes. Blade 30–45 x 16–27mm, elliptic or broadly elliptic; apex obtuse to rounded, occasionally minutely retuse; margin entire, narrowly revolute; base broadly tapering to truncate or rounded, above glabrescent or with the remains of scales and with minute tubercles; below more persistently scaly especially along the mid-vein. Scales stellate, sub-sessile on top of pale persistent epidermal tubercles. Mid-vein flat or slightly impressed above, slightly prominent beneath especially towards the base of the blade, much more slender than the petiole; lateral veins c.6 per side, irregular, straight below, anastomosing with each other before the margin, forming a lax network which is equally raised on both sides when dry, thick, rigid and rough to the touch. Petiole 7–10 x c.3mm, pale cream, weakly grooved above, densely scaly. Flower buds 20 x 11mm, pale-green, ellipsoid, the margins of the bracts tightly appressed but the bract tips ‘hooded’ with the apex of the ‘hood’ standing out so that the bud has a lumpy appearance. Bracts to 15 x 6mm, ovate to spathulate, the margins only with brown dendroid scales otherwise glabrous, apiculate. Bracteoles to 15mm, filiform with a few long translucent cilia along the edges sometimes with a reduced dendroid scale on the top. Inflorescence a c.3-flowered umbel, the flowers half-hanging except where held by the leaves into horizontal or semi-erect positions. Pedicels 10–15 x c.0.6mm, pink, densely brown stellate-scaly, without hairs. Calyx disc-shaped, hardly lobed, c.2.5mm in diameter, densely scaly and sparsely hairy outside, sparsely ciliate on the margin. Corolla 30–35 x 29mm, zygomorphic, tubular, pink; tube 20–25 x 5–10 x 10–13mm, curved, laxly scaly outside, with a few white hairs within; lobes 10–15 x 10–15mm, broadly obovate-spathulate, half overlapping except not or hardly overlapping between the upper 3 and the lower 2, with a few sparse scales outside. Stamens at first tightly clustered on the upper side of the flower, exserted to 5mm, later to 10mm and becoming irregularly arranged, (sometimes with 12 stamens); filaments linear, laxly patent-hairy below, glabrous in the upper 1⁄3; anthers c.2.5 x 1mm, dark purple, broadly oblong, the cells very shortly apiculate at the base. Disc glabrous below, hairy at the upper margin. Ovary c.4 x 1.8mm, cylindrical, densely scaly and laxly hairy, abruptly contracted distally; style held on upper side of the tube, below the anthers on opening, laxly patently hairy and densely scaly in the lower 1⁄3, glabrous distally; stigma thickly conical-globose, becoming exserted beyond the anthers to c.15mm.
Papua New Guinea, Mt Dayman, Mt Maneao and Mt Simpson, Milne Bay District
R. truncicolum Sleumer (orthographic variant).
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:105