Rhododendron vernicosum Franch.

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Credits

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

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

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron adoxum Balf. f. & Forr.
  • Rhododendron lucidum Franch., not Nutt.
  • Rhododendron euanthum Balf. f. & W. W. Sm.
  • Rhododendron rhantum Balf. f. & W. W. Sm.
  • Rhododendron sheltonae Hemsl. & Wils.
  • Rhododendron araliaeforme Balf. f. & Forr.

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.
Tibet
Traditional English name for the formerly independent state known to its people as Bod now the Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. The name Xizang is used in lists of Chinese provinces.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
clone
Organism arising via vegetative or asexual reproduction.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
mucro
Short straight point. mucronate Bearing a mucro.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
stamen
Male reproductive organ of flower. Usually composed of an anther and a filament.
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 vernicosum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-vernicosum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Shrub or tree, 1.3–8 m. Leaves 7–10 × 2.7–5 cm, elliptic to ovate- or obovate-elliptic, base rounded, lower surface with persistent punctulate hair bases, otherwise glabrous when mature. Flowers 6–10 to a truss; calyx c.2 mm; corolla 6–7-lobed, pale rose to pinkish purple, with crimson flecks, broadly funnel-campanulate, nectar pouches lacking, 35–50 mm; stamens c.14, filaments glabrous; ovary and style covered with red stalked glands. Flowering May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution  China N Yunnan, SW Sichuan, Guizhou

Habitat 2,600–3,650 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Awards AM 1964 (Younger Botanic Garden, Benmore, Argyll) to a clone 'Loch Eck'; flowers pure white. AM 1976 (Lord Aberconway and National Trust, Bodnant) to a clone 'Spring Sonnet', from Rock 11408 (USDA 59625); flowers white, flushed red-purple, spotted.

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Taxonomic note This species can be confused with R. decorum but may be distinguished by the glabrous stamen filaments and usually by the red stylar glands and broader leaves. R. vernicosum usually occurs at higher altitudes than R. decorum and is more hardy than many forms of the latter species. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

An evergreen shrub said occasionally to be 15 to 25 ft high in the wild; but considerably less at present in cultivation; young shoots glabrous. Leaves glabrous, oval to oblong-ovate, rounded at the base and abruptly narrowed to a mucro at the apex, 212 to 5 in. long, about half as much wide; dull green above, rather glaucous beneath; stalk 34 to 114 in. long. Flowers not fragrant, opening in May in rather loose trusses of about ten. Calyx small, fleshy, being only an unequal-sided development of the flower-stalk, which is about 1 in. long and glandular. Corolla widely funnel-shaped, 212 in. wide, pale clear rose, seven-lobed. Stamens fourteen, glabrous. Ovary densely glandular, the style also densely furnished over its whole length with dark red glands. Bot. Mag., tt. 8834, 8904–5. (s. and ss. Fortunei)

Native of Szechwan and Yunnan, where it is widely distributed; discovered by the French missionary Soulié about 1889 west of Kangting (Tatsien-lu); introduced by Wilson in 1904, and also cultivated from seeds sent later by Forrest, Kingdon Ward, Rock, and Yu. It is allied to R. decorum but can always be distinguished from it (and from other members of the Fortunei subseries) by the remarkable red glands on the style.

R. vernicosum is somewhat variable. Four species are sometimes referred to as ‘geographical forms’ of R. vernicosum and maintain a shadowy existence, though all four were considered as synonymous with R. vernicosum by Dr Cowan. Of these, R. araliaeforme was described from specimens collected by Forrest in Tsarong province, S.E. Tibet, and the plants cultivated under this name were from seeds he sent home from this area in 1919; the plants called R. euanthum and R. rhantum were from seeds collected in the Lichiang range; and R. sheltonae is the name by which the Wilson introduction from W. Szechwan was originally known.

The specific epithet, which means ‘varnished’, seems very unfitted for a dull-leaved plant like this. But a varnished appearance can be developed by heating the surface of the leaf, which is, probably, what had been done when drying the original specimens on which Franchet based his description.

R. vernicosum is a beautiful and quite hardy species. Some forms do not flower until May and these are the best for frosty gardens. The Award of Merit was given in 1964 to clone ‘Loch Eck’, when exhibited from the Younger Botanic Garden, Benmore, Argyll, on April 14. The clone ‘Sidlaw’ received a Preliminary Commendation when shown by E. H. M. and P. A. Cox on May 19, 1969.