Rhododendron rubropilosum Hayata

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Credits

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

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

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron caryophyllum Hayata
  • Rhododendron randaiense Hayata

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.
appressed
Lying flat against an object.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
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 rubropilosum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-rubropilosum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Shrub, to 3 m; young shoots densely covered with adpressed flattened grey to reddish brown hairs. Leaves of one kind, persistent, 1–3(–5.5) × 0.5–1(–2.5) cm, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, apex acute, with a glandular mucro, upper surface with pale grey adpressed hairs, lower surface covered with flattened adpressed red-brown hairs, especially on the midrib; petioles densely covered with adpressed flattened red-brown hairs. Pedicels densely bristly. Flowers 2–4 per inflorescence; calyx minute; corolla pink, with rose flecks, funnel-shaped, 10–15(–25) mm; stamens 7–10; ovary covered with pale grey soft hairs, style more or less glabrous. Flowering May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Taiwan

Habitat 2,400–3,000 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

An evergreen azalea up to 9 ft high in the wild; young shoots covered densely with flattened, appressed, grey to red-brown hairs. Leaves oblong-lanceolate to oval-lanceolate, 12 to 134 in. long, 12 to 34 in. wide, slightly hairy above, thickly furnished beneath with forward-pointing bristly hairs, especially on the midrib. Flowers in clusters of three or four. Calyx and flower-stalks bristly. Corolla funnel-shaped, with five spreading lobes, pink spotted with dark rose, 34 to 1 in. wide. Stamens seven to ten, shorter than the corolla, downy near the base as is also the longer style. (s. Azalea ss. Obtusum)

Native of Formosa, up to 10,000 ft altitude. Wilson, who visited its native habitat in 1918, found many plants flowering in October. During the same journey he introduced the species to cultivation by means of seeds. It is not likely to be hardy except in such climates as that of Cornwall. It differs from R. indicum in the more numerous stamens and in the downy style; the latter character distinguishes it also from R. tosaense and R. simsii. W. R. Price, who visited Formosa in 1912, also found it blooming in October. It is uncertain whether this species is still in cultivation.


var. breviperulatum (Hayata) T.Yamaz

Stamens appendiculate.

The only significant difference between these two varieties, both of which are rare in cultivation and frost-sensitive, is in the form of the stamens.


var. rubropilosum

Stamens not appendiculate.