Description

Shrub or tree, 1.3-8 m. Leaves elliptic to ovate- or obovate-elliptic, (4.5-) 7-10 x 2.7-5 cm, 1.5-2.2 x as long as broad, apex rounded, mucronate, base rounded, lower surface with minute punctulate hairs; petioles 2-3 cm, glabrous. Inflorescence 6-10-flowered; rhachis 5-10 mm; pedicels 17-30 mm, stipitate-glandular. Calyx a 2 mm, lobes rounded, stipitate-glandular. Corolla 6-7-lobed, broadly funnel-campanulate, glabrous, pale rose to pinkish-purple, with crimson flecks, 35-50 mm. Stamens c. 14, filaments glabrous. Ovary and style stipitate-glandular, glands red. Capsule 17-30 x 7-12 mm, curved.

Distribution

China (N Yunnan, SW Sichuan)

Altitude

Habitat

Thickets, mixed forest, open slopes

Nomenclatural History

R. lucidum Franchet, J. Bot. (Morot) 9: 390 (1895), non Nutall (1853). R. sheltonii Hemsley & Wilson, Kew Bull. 1910: 108 (1910). Type: China, Sichuan, neighbourhood of Tatsienlu, 2750-3000 m, Wilson (Veitch) 3977 (iso. K). R. euanthum Balfour f. & W. W. Smith, Notes R.B.G. Edinb. 10: 103 (1917). Type: China, NW Yunnan, western flank of the Lichiang Range, 11-12000 ft, vi 1910, Forrest 5880 (holo. E; iso. K). R. rhantum Balfour f. & W. W. Smith, ibid. 10: 145 (1917). Type: China, NW Yunnan, Lichiang Range, 10-11000 ft, vi 1913, Forrest 10075 (holo. E). R. hexamerum Handel-Mazzetti, Akad. Wiss. Wien Math.-Naturwiss. Kl. Anz. 4-5 (1921). Type: China, Sichuan, in fruticetis jugi Schao-schan, ad merid. urbis Ningyuen, 22-2700 m, 15 iv 1914, Handel-Mazzetti 1343-n.v. R. adoxum Balfour f. & Forrest, Notes R.B.G. Edinb. 13: 28 (1922). Type: NW Yunnan, Yunling Mountains, 13000 ft, vii 1917, Forrest 15226 (holo. E;iso. K). R. araliiforme Balfour f. & Forrest, ibid. 13:232 (1922). Type: China, NW Yunnan, Mekong/Salween Divide, 10000 ft, vii 1917, Forrest 14151 (holo. E)

Notes

References

Chamberlain, D.F. (1982) A Revision of Rhododendron II. Subgenus Hymenanthes. Notes From the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 39(2):230