Rhododendron sargentianum Rehd. & Wils.

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Credits

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

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

Genus

Infraspecifics

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.
bloom
Bluish or greyish waxy substance on leaves or fruits.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
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 sargentianum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-sargentianum/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Dwarf shrub, to 0.6 m; leaf bud scales persistent. Leaves 0.9–1.5 × 0.5–0.8 cm, elliptic, apex rounded with a conspicuous mucro, lower surface with 2–3 tiers of dense overlapping scales the upper tiers brown or pale brown, the lowest pale, golden yellow. Flowers 5–12, in a dense racemose umbel; calyx lobes c.3 mm; corolla whitish to yellow, hypocrateriform, tube c.8 mm, scaly and puberulent outside, densely pilose within, lobes c.6 mm; stamens 5; ovary scaly. Flowering April-June. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China Sichuan

Habitat 3,000–3,600 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H6

Awards AM 1923 (Lady Aberconway and Hon. H.D. McLaren, Bodnant); flowers pale yellow. AM 1966 (E.H.M. & PA. Cox, Glendoick Gardens Ltd, Perth) to a clone 'Whitebait'; flowers pale Primrose Yellow. AGM 1993

Conservation status Near threatened (NT)

Taxonomic note A distinctive species that apparently has a restricted distribution in the wild. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

A low evergreen shrub up to 2 ft high and 3 ft or more across, with numerous erect branches which, when young, are covered with down and dark scurf. Leaves aromatic when crushed, oval, 13 to 23 in. long, half as much wide; dark glossy green and soon glabrous above, very scurfy beneath; leaf-stalk about 18 in. long. Flowers produced in May, six to twelve together in a loose terminal cluster, each bloom on a stalk 15 to 38 in. long, thickly covered with yellowish scurf. Calyx about 18 in. long or shorter. Corolla pale yellow, 12 in. long and wide, the base a cylindrical tube hairy inside, spreading at the mouth into five lobes, scaly outside. Stamens five, glabrous, hidden in the corolla-tube. Ovary scaly; style shorter than the stamens. Bot. Mag., t. 8871 (s. Anthopogon)

Native of W. Szechwan in the Mupin area; discovered and introduced by Wilson in 1903–4 for Messrs Veitch, and again during his second expedition for the Arnold Arboretum. It grows at 11,000 to 13,000 ft, on rocks or cliffs, or forming heaths. It is a charming shrub of dwarf, compact habit, but does not flower very freely. It is very hardy. An Award of Merit was given to it in 1923 when shown from Bodnant on May 8 by Lady Aberconway and the Hon. H. D. McLaren.


'Whitebait'

Flowers nearly white, borne more freely than usual. Award of Merit May 6, 1960, when shown by E. H. M. and P. A. Cox, Glendoick, Perthshire.