Rhododendron auritum Tagg

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

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
reflexed
Folded backwards.

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Shrub, 1–3 m; bark flaking, coppery red. Leaves 2.7–6.6 × 1–2.7 cm, oblong to lanceolate, apex obtuse to acute, green above, lower surface pale glaucous green, papillose, scales touching or overlapping, unequal, the smaller sunk in pits. Flowers 4–7, in a terminal inflorescence with a 1–2 mm rhachis; calyx lobes reflexed, 3–5 mm, not ciliate; corolla pale yellow or cream, sometimes with a pale pink flush, tubular-campanulate, 18–25 mm, outer surface scaly, glabrous; stamens 10; ovary scaly, impressed below the declinate style that is scaly in the lower half. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution  China SE Tibet

Habitat 2,150–2,600 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H3

Awards AM 1931 (L. de Rothschild, Exbury); flowers sulphur yellow.

Conservation status Critically endangered (CR)

This species is closely allied to R. xanthostephanum but differs in the pale flowers and in the reflexed calyx lobes. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).