Rhododendron nuttallii Booth

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron nuttallii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-nuttallii/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron sinonuttallii Balf. f. & Forr.

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.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
epiphyte
Plant growing on trees but not parasitic on the host.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron nuttallii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-nuttallii/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Shrub or small tree, sometimes epiphytic, 2–10 m; young shoots not bristly. Leaves 17–26 × 7.5–13 cm, oblong-elliptic to oblong-obovate, apex bluntly acute or obtuse, margin not ciliate, upper surface rugose, midrib raised; lower surface glaucous, with a conspicuous reticulum of secondary veins, scales brown, unequal, up to 2× their own diameter apart. Flowers 2–5, in a loose terminal inflorescence, not scented; calyx 15–25 mm, without or with a few scales, sometimes with a few hairs; corolla white with a yellow blotch, funnel-campanulate, with an oblique mouth, (75–)100–125 mm, outer surface sparsely scaly; stamens 10; ovary densely scaly, tapering into the style that is scaly below. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China NW Yunnan, SE Tibet, Vietnam India Arunachal Pradesh

Habitat 1,200–3,650 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H2

Awards AM 1936 (L. de Rothschild, Exbury) as var. stellatum, from Kingdon-Ward 6333; flowers small, scented. AM 1955 (Sunningdale Nurseries, Windlesham, Surrey) as R. sinonuttallii. FCC 1864 (Victoria Nursery, Highgate). AGM 1993

Conservation status Near threatened (NT)

An evergreen shrub or small tree from 12 to 30 ft high, of straggling, thinly branched habit, often growing in nature as an epiphyte on the branches and forks of large trees; young shoots very stout, scaly. Leaves stout and leathery, oval, tapered at both ends, shortly pointed, 5 to 12 in. long, 212 to 412 in. wide, greyish, strongly reddish veined and thickly sprinkled with scales beneath, at first reddish above, ultimately pale green, much puckered and wrinkled. Flowers fragrant, usually three to six in a terminal truss (as many as eleven have been known), opening in May horizontally or rather nodding. Calyx deeply five-lobed, the lobes oblong, rounded at the end, 1 in. long, 12 in. wide. Corolla funnel-shaped at the base, of wax-like texture, ivory-white suffused with yellow in the throat, 4 to 5 in. long and measuring about the same across the five spreading, rounded lobes. Stamens normally ten, 212 in. long, downy towards the base; anthers 13 in. long, reddish brown. Ovary and base only of style scaly, the latter up to 3 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 5146. (s. Maddenii ss. Megacalyx)

Native of the eastern Himalaya, S.E. Tibet, and upper Burma. It was discovered by Thomas Booth in 1849–50 in the Dafla Hills, Assam Himalaya, growing ‘on the banks of the Papoo, swampy ground amongst Yews and Oaks at 4000–5000 ft’. It was introduced by him, and first flowered in 1858 with Otto Forster of Augsburg, who had bought a grafted plant from Standish and Noble three years previously. At Kew it flowered in the following year in the Rhododendron House, when 9 ft high.

In regard to the individual flower, which suggests a lily in size and texture, this is the most magnificent of rhododendrons. Flowers are frequently 6 in. wide. Unfortunately it is too tender to be grown in the open air even in Cornwall. It is not a strong-rooting shrub and likes a sandy, peaty, well-drained soil. Healthy plants make shoots one foot or more long in a season.

R. nuttallii received a First Class Certificate more than a century ago. The Award of Merit was given in 1955 to a form raised from Ludlow and Sherriff seeds, shown by the Sunningdale Nurseries.

The name var. stellatum was given by Hutchinson to a form with rather smaller flowers than normal and a spreading calyx, raised from seeds collected by Kingdon Ward in the Tsangpo gorge, S.E. Tibet, in 1924. Plants from these seeds (KW 6333) are said to be somewhat hardier than the common form. Award of Merit 1936.