Rhododendron ripense Makino

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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

hybrid
Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Shrub, 1–2 m; young shoots and petioles densely covered with loosely adpressed flattened bristles that are intermixed with softer grey-brown, sometimes gland-tipped hairs. Leaves of two kinds; spring leaves deciduous, 3.5–5 × 1.5–2 cm, ovate-lanceolate, apex mucronate, both surfaces covered with adpressed reddish grey pilose hairs, especially on the midrib; summer leaves 1.5–3 × 0.5–1 cm, oblanceolate. Pedicels covered with soft spreading pilose hairs, sometimes with glandular and flattened bristles. Flowers 1–3 per inflorescence; calyx to 15 mm; corolla white or rose-pink to red, widely funnel-shaped, 25–50 mm; stamens 10; ovary covered with bristles, style glabrous. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Japan Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu

Habitat 50–500 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H4

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

This species is closely allied to R. stenopetalum but differs in the smaller leaves and adpressed-hairy shoots, etc.

R. mucronatum, with white flowers, is presumed to be an artificial hybrid derived from R. ripense and R. stenopetalum. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)