Rhododendron hunnewellianum Rehd. & Wils.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron hunnewellianum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-hunnewellianum/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron leucoclasium Diels

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.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
family
A group of genera more closely related to each other than to genera in other families. Names of families are identified by the suffix ‘-aceae’ (e.g. Myrtaceae) with a few traditional exceptions (e.g. Leguminosae).
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
oblanceolate
Inversely lanceolate; broadest towards apex.
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 hunnewellianum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-hunnewellianum/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Shrub or small tree, 2–6 m. Leaves 7–15 × 1.6–2.8 cm, narrowly oblanceolate, apex acuminate, upper surface reticulate; lower surface with a two-layered indumentum, the upper layer loose, white, persisting or rubbing off, composed of ramiform hairs, the lower compacted and whitish. Flowers 6–10, in a loose truss, white to pale rose or purple, with purple flecks, widely campanulate, nectar pouches lacking, 40–50 mm; ovary densely and coarsely yellowish-tomentose, style glabrous. Flowering March-April. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China Sichuan, Gansu

Habitat 2,000–3,000 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H4

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

An evergreen shrub up to 15 ft high in the wild; young shoots covered with a short grey felt. Leaves oblanceolate, slenderly pointed but tapering more gradually towards the base, 2 to 412 in. long, 14 to 1 in. wide, dark green, glabrous above at maturity, clothed beneath with a loose grey felt; stalk 14 to 12 in. long. Flowers produced in March or April in clusters of five to eight on downy stalks 34 in. long. Calyx small, shallowly lobed, downy. Corolla bell-shaped, five-lobed, 2 to 214 in. wide, 134 to 2 in. deep, pink to pale rosy-lilac, spotted with maroon on the three upper lobes. Stamens ten, the longest about as long as the corolla, their stalks white, downy at the base; anthers dark brown. Ovary and base of style clad with white down, the latter nearly 2 in. long. Seed-vessel 34 in. long, covered with tawny down. (s. Arboreum ss. Argyrophyllum)

Native of W. Szechwan, China; discovered and introduced by Wilson in 1908. A distinct species on account of its stiff, very narrow leaves, grey-white beneath. It is perfectly hardy at Kew, but increases slowly in size because of its being so frequently cut back by late spring frosts, and for the same reason flowers there infrequently. It flowered with Lt-Col. Stephenson Clarke at Borde Hill, Sussex, in March 1918. Related to R. floribundum, it differs in its smaller, narrower leaves, more slenderly tapered at the base. It is named after the Hunnewell family, well known and ardent patrons of horticulture and botany in Massachusetts.


subsp. hunnewellianum

Leaves (7–)10–15cm long, upper layer of leaf indumentum remaining whitish.

Distribution China (C Sichuan).

Habitat 2,000–3,000m.


subsp. rockii (E.H.Wilson) D.F.Chamb.

Synonyms
R. rockii E.H.Wilson

Leaves 7–12cm long, upper layer of leaf indumentum turning yellow.

Distribution China (N Sichuan, S Gansu).

Habitat 2,000–2,400m.

Taxonomic note (R. rockii E.H.Wilson)