Rhododendron baenitzianum Lauterb.

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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

attenuate
Gradually narrowing.

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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

Shrub to 2 m, terrestrial, young stems at first with a red-brown substellate tomentum. Leaves 15–25 × 3.5–9 cm, oblong, broadly elliptic to ovate-elliptic, the apex long drawn out, acute, caudate-acuminate, the margin flat, the base broadly tapering, occasionally rounded; upper surface at first finely scaly, quickly becoming completely glabrous, midrib narrow and impressed above, the lateral veins 8–12 pairs slightly raised or impressed; the lower surface laxly scaly, the scales small, flat, irregularly but not deeply lobed or dented, the centres small, midrib broadly prominent, lateral veins distinctly prominent. Flowers 4–12 per umbel, erect to horizontal; calyx a low scaly ring; corolla with a yellow tube and orange lobes, funnel-shaped, 8–10 × 8–10 cm, finely scaly on the tube outside; stamens 10, scattered irregularly but mostly on the lower side of the flower; ovary covered with semi-appressed, forward pointed, white hairs and silvery scales, style both hairy and scaly to near the top. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Papua New Guinea West, Torricelli Mts and Ok Tedi area

Habitat 200–1,200 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H2

Conservation status Data deficient (DD)

A plant of this species was rescued from the collection made by Paul Kores at Wau by the Rev. Canon Norman Cruttwell who grew it and distributed it for general cultivation. It is a very handsome species with a large truss of golden flowers. It may be distinguished from R. zoelleri by its much more sharply attenuate leaves and finer pattern of lateral veins. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)