Rhododendron burmanicum Hutch.

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Credits

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

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

Genus

Infraspecifics

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

Shrub, to 2 m; young shoots densely covered with setae that are soon deciduous; vegetative bud scales broad and conspicuous. Leaves 5–5.5 × 2–2.5 cm, obovate, apex obtuse, margin ciliate when young, more or less crenate above, upper surface with impressed midrib, lower surface with overlapping or touching scales. Flowers 4–6(–10), in a terminal inflorescence, scented; calyx disc-like; corolla greenish yellow, funnel-campanulate, 30–35 mm, outer surface scaly throughout, pilose below; stamens 10; ovary densely scaly, impressed below the style that is scaly below. Flowering March-April. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Myanmar Mt Victoria

Habitat 2,700–2,900 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H3

Awards AM 1980 (Mrs E. Mackenzie, Fressingfield, Norfolk) to a clone 'Elizabeth David'; trusses 4-flowered; corolla campanulate, yellow within, outer corolla a deeper shade of yellow. AGM 1993

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Taxonomic note A distinctive species, with characteristic vegetative buds, and with a restricted distribution. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

An evergreen shrub usually under 6 ft high and often dwarf in the wild; young stems scaly and slightly bristly. Leaves oblanceolate to obovate, abruptly narrowed to a mucronate tip, tapered at the base, densely scaly on both sides, the scales less than their own diameter apart or even overlapping, undersurface green between the scales; petioles up to 38 in. long, scaly and edged with erect hairs. Flowers fragrant, borne in terminal trusses of five or six on scaly stalks up to 78 in. long. Calyx minute, fringed with bristles. Corolla five-lobed, narrowly funnel-campanulate, 112 to 2 in. long, yellow, greenish yellow or greenish white, scaly on the outside. Stamens ten, hairy in the lower part. Ovary densely scaly; style scaly. (s. Maddenii ss. Ciliicalyx)

Native of Mt Victoria, a mountain just over 10,000 ft high in the Southern Chin Hills, south-west Burma. It was discovered there by Lady Wheeler Cuffe and introduced by her to the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, where it first flowered in May 1914. Although not hardy enough for cultivation outdoors near London, it succeeds in several gardens on the west coast of Scotland.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

R. pachypodum – See R. ciliicalyx in this supplement.


R pachypodum Balf. f. & Forr

Closely allied to R. burmanicum, but with the leaves glaucous beneath between the scales, less scaly above, and with fewer flowers in each cluster (usually in twos or threes). The corollas are white or yellow, or white streaked with yellow. Introduced by Forrest in 1913 from the Tali range, Yunnan, where it grows at 7,000 to 10,000 ft. It is less hardy than R. burmanicum, but has been grown in the open air in the mildest parts.R. pachypodum received an Award of Merit as a greenhouse plant when shown from Exbury in 1936. This form, with white flowers bearing a streak of yellow on the upper lobe, was raised from Kingdon Ward’s 3776, collected in 1921 in S.W. Yunnan at 8,000 ft at the head of the Nam Ting valley, south of Shunning-fu.