Rhododendron baileyi Balf. f.

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Credits

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

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

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron thyodocum Balf. f. & Cooper

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.
crenulate
With small rounded teeth at the edge.
deflexed
Bent or turned downwards.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
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.
raceme
Unbranched inflorescence with flowers produced laterally usually with a pedicel. racemose In form of raceme.
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 baileyi' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-baileyi/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Shrub, 0.5–2 m. Leaves (2–)3–5 × (1–)1.4–1.9(–2.6) cm, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, apex obtuse to rounded, lower surface usually with dark brown overlapping crenulate scales. Pedicels 12–22 mm, scaly. Flowers 4–8 per inflorescence, rachis elongate; calyx lobes 1.54 mm; corolla magenta to purple, often with darker spots, campanulate, 12–15 mm; stamens 10, regularly arranged; ovary scaly, style sharply deflexed. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  BhutanChina S Tibet India Sikkim

RHS Hardiness Rating H4

Awards AM 1960 (A.C. & J.F.A. Gibson, Glenarn, Dunbartonshire); flowers Doge Purple, with purple spots.

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Taxonomic note A distinctive species distinguished by a combination of crenulate scales and sharply deflexed style. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

An evergreen bush of rounded shape 3 to 5 ft high; young shoots covered with reddish-brown scales. Leaves often clustered at the end of the shoot, oval, ovate or obovate, broadly wedge-shaped at the base, bluntish at the apex but with a distinct mucro there, 1 to 212 in. long, 12 to 113 in. wide, dark glossy green and scurfy above; pale yellowish brown (at first glaucous) beneath, completely covered with crenulate scales; stalk 13 to 35 in. long. Flowers produced during May in one or more racemes at and near the end of the shoot, the main-stalk up to 1 in. long; individual flower-stalks up to 112 in. long. A raceme will carry sometimes twelve or more flowers, usually fewer. Calyx small with five scaly unequal lobes. Corolla flattish, deep red-purple with dark spots on the upper three lobes, 118 in wide, five-lobed, the lobes rounded, scaly outside. Stamens ten, with rosy purple stalks, glabrous at the base, more or less downy above; anthers brown. Ovary covered with whitish scales; style red-purple, much bent over. Bot. Mag., t. 8942. (s. Lepidotum ss. Baileyi)

Native of the E. Himalaya, not found west of Sikkim and rare even there; introduced by Lt-Col. F. M. Bailey in 1913 from near the border between Tibet and E. Bhutan and reintroduced by Roland Cooper from Bhutan in the following year. It differs from R. lepidotum in the more numerous flowers in each raceme, the brown undersides of the leaves and the crenulate scales.

Award of Merit April 26, 1960 when shown by A. C. and J. F. Gibson, Glenarn, Dunbartonshire.