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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
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'Rhododendron caliginis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Straggling shrub to 1 m, terrestrial or epiphytic, young stems densely covered with brown, scurfy scales. Leaves 1–5 × 0.1–1 cm, linear to elliptic, the apex narrowly to broadly acute, the margin slightly revolute, base narrowly to broadly tapering; upper surface at first densely covered in the brown dendroid scales but quickly becoming glabrous, midrib impressed above lateral veins obscure; lower surface densely brown scaly the dendroid scales forming a complete and rather persistent felt, midrib raised throughout the length of the leaf, other veins obscure. Flowers mostly solitary occasionally 2–3 in a small umbel, hanging more or less vertically downwards; calyx a low scaly ring; corolla, white to pink, cylindrical, 3–3.5 × 2–2.5 cm, densely pale brown-scaly on the tube and lobes outside; stamens 10, clustered on the upper side of the mouth of the flower; ovary densely dendroid-scaly, style scaly in the basal half, glabrous in the upper part. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)
Distribution Papua New Guinea West Sepik and Enga Provinces
Habitat 2,400–2,500 m
RHS Hardiness Rating H2
Conservation status Least concern (LC)
Described in 1984 by Paul Kores, various forms of this species have come into cultivation some with much broader leaves than the plant which was originally described. Said to be close to R. hooglandii and differing in the less revolute, more patent leaves and darker scales. It might also be confused with R. rarum but is more scaly and lacks the simple hairs on stamens and style of that species. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)