Rhododendron christianae Sleumer

TSO logo

Sponsor

Kindly sponsored by
Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Shrub to 3 m, terrestrial, twigs with a very fine covering of scales. Leaves 4–7.5 × 3–4.5 cm, elliptic, broadly elliptic or sub-obovate, apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes shortly acuminate, margin entire and flat, base broadly wedge-shaped; upper surface at first minutely scaly, quickly becoming glabrous, midrib slightly impressed otherwise the surface smooth, the laterals 5–7 pairs but obscure; lower surface with the midrib slightly raised, the lateral not raised almost as obscure as on the upper side, scales well spaced, brown, rounded to lobed and with small, darker brown centres. Flowers 2–7 per umbel, semi-erect, horizontal or half-hanging; calyx a lobed scaly ring; corolla yellow or greenish yellow with orange lobes, cylindrical with a straight but deeply fluted tube, 2.5–3.5 × 2.5–3.5 cm, minutely scaly on the tube outside; stamens 10, spreading irregularly from the mouth of the flower sometimes somewhat upturned; ovary white-hairy and obscurely scaly, the style, hairy and scaly for about 3/4 of its length. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Papua New Guinea SE, Milne Bay District

Habitat 600–1,500 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H2

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Quite variable and very free flowering in cultivation and the parent of some delightful hybrids. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)