Rhododendron calvescens Balf.f. & Forrest

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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron calvescens' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-calvescens/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

hybrid
Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron calvescens' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-calvescens/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Shrub, 1–2.5 m; young shoots and petioles shortly stalked-glandular, also with a detersile dendroid indumentum. Leaves 6–10 × 2.5–4 cm, elliptic to ovate, lower surface with a few stalked glands and a thin detersile indumentum that is sometimes restricted to the vicinity of the midrib at the base. Flowers c.5, in a lax truss; calyx 2–3 mm; corolla white flushed rose, with a few crimson flecks, funnel-campanulate, without nectar pouches, c.35 mm; ovary densely glandular, also with a varying proportion of rufous dendroid hairs, style glabrous. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China SE Tibet, NW Yunnan

Habitat 3,350–4,550 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H4

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

R. calvescens, which may well be a hybrid of R. selense, is rare in cultivation. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)


var. calvescens

Leaves 1.5–2.5 × as long as broad; pedicels 15–20mm.


var. duseimatum (Balf.f. & Forrest) D.F.Chamb.

Leaves c.3× as long as broad; pedicels 20–28mm.