Rhododendron sperabiloides Tagg & 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 sperabiloides' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-sperabiloides/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

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

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Dwarf shrub, 1–1.5 m. Leaves 5.5.-6.5 × 1.8–2.5 cm, elliptic, lower surface with a floecose discontinuous rufous tomentum composed of ramiform to sub-rosulate hairs, epidermis green, not papillate; petioles slightly winged, floccose-tomentose. Flowers 4–5, in a tight truss; calyx 4–7 mm, cupular; corolla fleshy, crimson to deep red, tubular-campanulate, 25–35 mm; ovary more or less abruptly contracted to tapering into the glabrous style. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China SE Tibet

Habitat 3,650–3,950 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Awards AM 1933 (L. de Rothschild, Exbury); flowers lustrous deep crimson.

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

This species is intermediate between R. sperabile and related species, with the ovary tapering into the style, and the remaining species in the subsection, with the ovary abruptly contracted into the style. This may indicate a hybrid origin for R. sperabiloides. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)