Rhododendron shweliense Balf.f. & Forrest

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

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

puberulent
Minutely pubescent.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Compact shrub, 0.3–0.8 m; shoots with a flaking brownish bark. Leaves 3.2–4 × c. 1.5 cm, narrowly elliptic to narrowly obovate, apex rounded, mucronate, lower surface with a glaucous papillate epidermis, scales 3–4× their own diameter apart, unequal, the smaller pale yellow, the larger brown. Pedicels scaly Flowers yellowish flushed pink, campanulate, outer surface lacking scales, 11 mm; stamens regular; ovary scaly, style sharply deflexed, puberulent over its whole length. Flowering April-June. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China SW Yunnan

Habitat 3,050–3,350 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

Most cultivated plants referred to this species are forms of R. glaucophyllum or hybrids of it. Its status in cultivation therefore remains doubtful. This species closely resembles R. charitopes but differs in the narrower leaves and puberulent style. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)