Rhododendron praeteritum Hutch.

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Credits

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

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

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.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
lobe
Division of a leaf or other object. lobed Bearing lobes.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
mucro
Short straight point. mucronate Bearing a mucro.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
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 praeteritum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-praeteritum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Shrub. Leaves 6–8 × 2.5–3.2 cm, obovate-elliptic, base rounded, lower surface glabrous. Flowers 5-lobed, c.7, in a lax truss; calyx 1–2 mm; corolla white flushed pink to pale pink, with purple flecks, open-campanulate, with nectar pouches, 30–40 mm; stamens 10; ovary and style glabrous. Flowering March-April. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China W Hubei

RHS Hardiness Rating H6

Conservation status Data deficient (DD)

Taxonomic note This species was described from plants in cultivation that were supposed to have been raised from Wilson seed, apparently collected in W Hubei. R. praeteritum is the only member of Subsect. Fortunea with nectar pouches; in view of its origins its status is uncertain. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

An evergreen shrub probably 10 ft or more high; young shoots downy. Leaves oblong, rounded, or slightly heart-shaped at the base, abruptly narrowed at the apex to a short mucro, 3 to 512 in. long, 114 to 134 in. wide; dark dull green above, pale green, and ultimately glabrous beneath except on the midrib; stalk 13 to 58 in. long. Flowers opening in March about eight in a truss 4 in. wide. Calyx shallowly five-lobed, glabrous; flower-stalks 12 to 34 in. long, loosely downy at first. Corolla bell-shaped, 114 to 112 in. long and wide, pink or pinkish white, five-lobed, each lobe notched, 34 to 1 in. wide. Stamens ten, 58 to 114 in. long, slightly downy towards the base; anthers chocolate-purple. Ovary and style quite glabrous, (s. Fortunei ss. Oreodoxa)

R. praeteritum was described in 1922 from a plant at Kew, raised from seeds collected by Wilson in China for Messrs Veitch, probably in W. Hupeh. From R. oreodoxa itself it differs in having a five-lobed corolla and only ten stamens; the flower-stalks of R. oreodoxa are also glandular. It was at first confused with R. maculiferum, from which it is clearly distinguished by having no blotch on the corolla and a quite smooth ovary. It is very hardy and has about the same garden value as R. fargesii; on account of its early opening the blossom is liable to damage by frost.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

An aberrant member of the subsect. Fortunea. The specific epithet is correctly spelt as above, not ‘praeteritinum’ as in the Edinburgh revision.