Rhododendron hodgsonii Hook. f.

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Credits

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

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

Genus

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.
Tibet
Traditional English name for the formerly independent state known to its people as Bod now the Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. The name Xizang is used in lists of Chinese provinces.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
hybrid
Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).
indumentum
A covering of hairs or scales.

Credits

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

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

Tree, 3–11 mm; bark smooth, peeling, reddish brown. Leaves 17–24 × 6.5–10 cm, obovate to oblanceolate, upper surface smooth, reticulate, lower surface with a dense two-layered indumentum, the upper layer silvery to cinnamon, composed of slightly fimbriate, broadly cup-shaped hairs, the lower compacted; petioles terete. Flowers 15–25, in a dense truss, 7–10-lobed, pink to magenta or purple, with a darker blotch, tubular-campanulate, nectar pouches lacking; stamens 15–18; ovary tomentose. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution  BhutanChina S Tibet India Sikkim, Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh Nepal E

Habitat 3,000–4,000 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Awards AM 1964 (Crown Estate Commissioners, Windsor) to a clone 'Poet's Lawn'; flowers white, shaded Rhodamine Purple.

Taxonomic note The hybrid with R. falconeri (known as R. Hodconeri Group [or R. × decipiens Lacaita] which also occurs in the wild) may be distinguished by its paler flowers and often darker brown leaf indumentum. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

An evergreen shrub or small tree up to 20 ft high; bark peeling. Leaves large, slighdy obovate, rounded at the apex, tapering at the base, 6 to 12 in. long, 3 to 4 in. wide, very leathery, dark green and glossy above, with brownish-red down beneath; stalk very thick, 1 to 2 in. long. Flowers rosy lilac or magenta-purple, 112 to 2 in. across, packed in a rounded truss about 6 in. wide. Calyx very small. Corolla bell-shaped, with eight to ten lobes; stamens about twice as many, shorter than the corolla. Ovary downy. Bot. Mag., t. 5552. (s. Falconeri)

Native of the Himalaya from Nepal to some way east of Bhutan; introduced by J. D. Hooker in 1850 from Sikkim, where it is according to him one of the characteristic plants of the interior at 10,000 to 12,000 ft. ‘It is found alike at the bottom of the valleys, on the rocky spurs or slopes of the hills, in open places, or in the gloomy pine-groves, often forming an impenetrable thicket, not merely of twigs and foliage, but of thickset limbs and stout trunks, only to be severed with difficulty, on account of the toughness of the wood. As it is easily worked, and not apt to be split. it is admirably adapted for use in the parched and arid climate of Tibet; and the Bhoteas make from it cups, spoons, and ladles, and the saddle, by means of which loads are slung upon the “yak”. The leaves are employed as platters, and serve for lining the baskets which contain the mashed pulp of Arisaema root (a kind of Colocass); and the customary present of butter or curd is always enclosed in this glossy foliage.’ (Hooker)

With its large rich green leaves and its beautiful bark, R. hodgsonii is one of the noblest of rhododendrons and a worthy companion to R. falconeri, which Hooker introduced at the same time. It is hardy enough, but does not succeed so well at Kew as it does at Edinburgh, where there are several fine plants 15 ft or slightly more high. In the Atlantic zone it has attained a height of 15 ft and a spread of 37 ft at Stonefield, Argyll, and 25 ft at Logan in Wigtownshire.

In Rhododendrons 1973 (p. 43), Roy Lancaster remarks that in the part of eastern Nepal visited by him in 1973 two forms of R. hodgsonii occur, one with deep magenta or reddish-purple flowers in congested heads, the other with larger, pink flowers, in looser trusses.