Rhododendron annae Franch.

TSO logo

Sponsor

Kindly sponsored by
Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

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

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

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron laxiflorum Balf.f. & Forr.
  • Rhododendron hardingii Tagg

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.
acuminate
Narrowing gradually to a point.
acute
Sharply pointed.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
cuneate
Wedge-shaped.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
obtuse
Blunt.
petiole
Leaf stalk.
rachis
Central axis of an inflorescence cone or pinnate leaf.
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 annae' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-annae/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Shrub, 0.5–6 m. Leaves coriaceous, 6.5–15 × 2–3.5 cm, elliptic to oblanceolate, apex acuminate, lower surface glabrous though with red punctate hair bases persisting on the veins. Flowers 7–12(–17), usually in a lax truss, white, with a rose flush, sometimes with purple flecks, open-campanulate, lacking nectar pouches, 25–40 mm; ovary and style stalked-glandular. Flowering May-June. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution  Myanmar NE China Guizhou, W Yunnan

Habitat 1,500–2,400

Awards AM 1977 (Maj. A.E. Hardy Sandling Park, Kent) to a clone 'Folks Wood', as R. laxiflorum; flowers white. AM 1979 (R.N.S. Clarke, Borde Hill) to a clone 'Anna Strelow' of R. laxiflorum, from Forrest 27706; truss 14-16-flowered, corolla white, shading towards base to a yellowish white, lobes faintly flushed red-purple, stamens 11-12.

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Taxonomic note Both R. hardingii and R. laxiflorum, from W Yunnan, have larger flowers, c.40mm long, while in R. annae (from Guizhou) they are usually 25mm long. However, the type specimens of R. hardingii have flowers that span the whole range between these three entities. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

A shrub to 20 ft high; branchlets slender, glandular when young, otherwise glabrous. Leaves thinly leathery, oblong-elliptic or broader slightly above the middle, apex obtuse to acute or shortly acuminate, base cuneate, 3 to 5 in. long, 1 to 234 in. wide, deep matt green above with the main veins slightly impressed, undersurface bright green with scattered, glistening brown dots; petiole about 58 in. long. Flowers borne in April in loose trusses of twelve to fifteen; rachis about 1 in. long; pedicels 58 to 78 in. long, glandular. Calyx very small, glandular at the edge. Corolla five-lobed, widely funnel-shaped to cup-shaped, up to almost 3 in. wide, white sometimes flushed with pink, spotted or unspotted. Ovary conoid, glandular, as is the style throughout. Bot. Mag., n.s., t.385.

Native of Kweichow and western Yunnan; described by Franchet from a specimen collected in the former province. The type of R. laxiflorum, the name under which the species has generally been known in cultivation, came from the Shweli-Salween divide, and the plant figured in the Botanical Magazine was raised from seeds collected in the same area. The species, as known in cultivation, is not so tender as was once supposed, but it breaks into growth early, and the flower-buds too may be killed by late frost. It is the most ornamental species of the subsection, apart from R. irroratum itself and R. aberconwayi.