Rhododendron crassum Franch.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

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

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
oblanceolate
Inversely lanceolate; broadest towards apex.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

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

An evergreen shrub or small tree up to 20 ft high; young shoots stout, scaly. Leaves usually crowded at the end of the shoot, leathery, oval, narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, pointed, tapered at the base, 212 to 6 in. long, 1 to 212 in. wide, dark glossy green and wrinkled above, rather glaucous beneath but thickly sown with red-brown scales. Flowers delightfully fragrant, three to six in a terminal cluster, each on a thick scaly stalk, 12 to 34 in. long. Calyx scaly at the base, deeply five-lobed, the lobes 14 to 12 in. long, glabrous. Corolla funnel-shaped, 212 to 312 in. long, creamy white to rosy white, scaly outside, five-lobed, the lobes roundish ovate and 1 in. long. Stamens fifteen to twenty, downy at the lower part. Ovary and style scaly, the latter 2 to 212 in. long. Seed-vessel very stout, 34 to 114 in. long, 12 in. wide, ribbed. Bot. Mag., t. 9673. (s. and ss. Maddenii)

Native of N.W. Yunnan and upper Burma at 8,000 to 12,000 ft altitude; discovered by the Abbé Delavay about 1885 in the Tali range, Yunnan. It was introduced by Forrest in 1906 and first flowered with E. J. P. Magor at Lamellen, Cornwall, in 1914.

This beautiful rhododendron may be regarded as the Yunnan representative of R. maddenii, a well-known Himalayan species long cultivated in greenhouses. Being much the hardier, it is a valuable acquisition. It has lived in the open air at Kew through a few mild winters and occasionally flowered, but it needs a milder climate. It flowers in June and, starting late into growth, escapes late spring frosts, which may account for its comparative hardiness. R. maddenii differs in having glabrous stamens and the calyx-lobes are only 16 in. long. Forrest has introduced a number of forms of R. crassum differing in the shape and size of the leaves, some of which have glabrous stamens. Award of Merit June 24, 1924, when shown by T. H. Lowinsky, Sunninghill, Berks.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

This becomes R. maddenii subsp. crassum. See further in this supplement.