The New Plantsman 2000. 7(4): 214–219.
Verified by:
Shrub to 40cm. Twigs rounded, red or green with brown scales on top of white, slender, stalks which appear as short hairs when the scale is removed. Leaves in tight pseudowhorls of c.6 full-sized leaves and one or two smaller ones with some slender fragile scale leaves along the internodes. Blade 8–15 x 7–13mm, sub-circular to elliptic; apex obtuse, rounded or retuse; margin entire when fresh, crenulate after drying; base rounded or broadly tapering, flat or slightly concave, sub-succulent; sub-densely scaly above at first but quickly glabrescent; persistently sub-densely scaly below. Scales highly variable, mostly with a broad irregular margin and small centre but occasionally with a large domed centre and smaller marginal zone, brown, leaving a small dark spot at the point of attachment when they have gone. Mid-vein impressed above mostly for the whole leaf length but sometimes disappearing just below the apex; below, smooth when fresh, broadly raised for the whole length after drying; lateral veins mostly not visible but occasionally one or two spreading at about 45° from near the base. Petiole 1–3 x 1–2mm, green or red, scaly, grooved in the distal ½ on the upper side. Flower buds 13–15 x 6–10mm, ovoid, dark shining red in the upper 1⁄3, red below, the outermost bracts rigidly standing out away from the bud, ovate or triangular with broad bases and long, narrow, subulate points; inner bracts broadly ovate, narrowing to mucronate apices. Bracteoles c.8 x 0.5mm, broadening distally to c.1mm, glabrous but irregularly toothed distally. Inflorescence an open umbel of 2–4 flowers, sometimes solitary, the flowers half-hanging. Pedicels 13–15 x c.1mm, densely hairy and with scattered inconspicuous scales. Calyx a low scaly ring with a few hairs near the attachment to the pedicel. Corolla red, 20–28 x c.20mm; tube 8–16 x 5–6 x 10–14mm, with a few scales outside and some scattered hairs near the base both inside and out; lobes 12–16 x 10–16mm, not overlapping or overlapping to ¾. Stamens arranged regularly or irregularly just below the mouth of the flower, slightly dimorphic, 7 and 8mm; filaments laxly hairy near the base especially on the inner side, glabrous distally; anthers c.3 x 1mm, brown, curving inwards. Ovary c.3 x 3mm, densely white-hairy and with inconspicuous brown scales, abruptly contracting distally; style 5mm, hairy at the base, (up to 1mm), otherwise glabrous. Fruit 7–11 x 5–6mm, broadly cylindrical, the outer layer peeling back before the valves split open. Seeds c.1.5mm, without tails c.1mm, the longest tail 0.3mm, the tails often hook-like.
Malaysia (Borneo), Sabah, Mt Kinabalu.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:203