Rhod. Sikkim. Himal. 1851. ii: 3.
WFO ID: wfo-0001250632
IPNI ID: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:333535-1
Verified by:
Shrub to 1m. Twigs green, with moderately dense brown scales set on persistent stalks, rough with stalks after the scales have fallen. Leaves spirally arranged along the twigs, although rapid extension growth may look bare with only small cataphylls which quickly fall. Blade 7–30 x 3–13mm, obovate-spathulate or elliptic, glossy dark green above, dull and paler below; apex obtuse or retuse but with a conspicuous mucronate gland; margin narrowly cartilaginous, entire, flat or slightly revolute; base narrowly tapering; moderately to sparsely scaly, the scales set in shallow depressions, glabrescent above, persistently scaly beneath. Scales circular, with narrow marginal zones and variably developed centres. Mid-vein impressed above, broadly and shallowly raised below; lateral veins obscure. Petiole c.1–3 x 1mm, not clearly demarcated from the blade, grooved above, scaly, especially beneath. Flower buds to 5 x 4mm, ovoid, green passing to pale brown, smooth except for the slightly spreading tips of the lowest bracts. Bracts ovate, acutely pointed, scaly outside near the midline and apex and densely fringed with long white hairs, glabrous inside, often persisting around the base of the pedicels until fruiting. Bracteoles 6–7 x 0.75–1.25mm, with a few scales outside distally, long marginal hairs at the apex, much shorter ones on the sides. Flowers solitary, occasionally 2 or 3 together held horizontally or semi-erect. Pedicels 12–20 x c.1mm, scaly. Calyx lobes 2–3 x c.1.5mm, elongate-ovate to sub-rounded, scaly outside and fringed with scales on the margins. Corolla c.8 x 6mm, white or flushed pink; tube c.4 x 3 x 4mm, broadly cylindrical, scaly outside, glabrous inside; lobes c.4 x 3mm, round or obovate, wide- spreading, not overlapping when fully open, glabrous or with a few scales outside. Stamens exserted to c.5mm; filaments densely long-hairy in the upper 2⁄3 to a level with the base of the anthers, but then glabrous; anthers c.2.5 x 1.5mm, pink. Disc glabrous. Ovary c.2 x 1mm, densely scaly but without simple hairs; style c.2.5mm, glabrous, expanded upwards, club-shaped. Fruit 20–25 x c.5mm, sometimes reported as bright red, spindle-shaped, the valves recurving. Seeds 10–15mm, without tails c.1mm, the longest tail 7mm.
Nepal (E). Bhutan. Myanmar (N). Tibet (SE). India, Sikkim, Assam Himalaya, Lachen and Darjeeling. China, Yunnan.
Epiphytic in forest, sometimes pendulous from the trunks of trees and on exposed rocks and cliffs
R. sino-vaccinioides Balf.f. & Forrest, Notes RBG Edinb. 1922. 13: 295.
Argent, G. (2006) Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. RHS:London. Page:28