Rhododendron camelliiflorum Hook. f.

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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron camelliiflorum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-camelliiflorum/). Accessed 2024-09-14.

Genus

Rhododendron
Subsect Camelliiflora

Synonyms

Rhododendron sparsiflorum Nutt.
Rhododendron cooperi Balf. f.

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.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glaucous: Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
lanceolate: Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
ovary: Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
stigma: (in a flower) The part of the carpel that receives pollen and on which it germinates. May be at the tip of a short or long style or may be reduced to a stigmatic surface at the apex of the ovary.
style: Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

References

Royal Horticultural Society (1997). The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron camelliiflorum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-camelliiflorum/). Accessed 2024-09-14.

Rhododendron camelliiflorum in deep shade (Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, Seattle, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

Shrub, often epiphytic, to 2 m; young shoots scaly. Leaves (5.3–)6–0–10.5 × (1.6–)2–3(–3.7) cm, narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic, apex bluntly acute, lower surface densely covered with almost touching broadly rimmed brown scales, a few of which are darker than the rest. Pedicels densely scaly. Flowers 1–2 per inflorescence; calyx lobes 5–8 mm, oblong; corolla white to deep rose, open-campanulate, 14–18(–20) mm, scaly outside, villose within; stamens 11–16; ovary with 5–10 cells, scaly, tapering into the short sharply deflexed style. Flowering May-June. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution Bhutan India Sikkim Nepal

Habitat 2,750–3,650 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Taxonomic note This species, the only member of its subsection, is distantly allied to species in Subsect. Boothia but is clearly distinct in its 12–16 stamens and multi-celled ovary, characters that suggest an affinity with Subsect. Maddenia. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

An evergreen shrub up to 6 ft high, of sparse straggling habit, often growing wild on the trunks and forks of trees; young shoots very scaly. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, pointed, 21⁄2 to 4 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, dark green above; almost covered with brown glistening scales beneath, between which, however, the glaucous surface of the leaf is visible; stalk 1⁄4 to 3⁄8 in. long. Flowers produced in July, usually in pairs. Corolla 11⁄2 in. wide, white tinged with rose, the base broadly bell-shaped; lobes five, rounded, overlapping, scaly outside. Stamens twelve to sixteen, downy towards but not at the broadened base. Ovary scaly; style 5⁄8 in. long, with a broad thick stigma; glabrous except for a few scales near the ovary. Calyx 1⁄4 in. long, scaly at the base, the lobes deep, oval, rounded at the end. Flower-stalk 1⁄4 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 4932. (s. Camelliiflorum)

Native of the Himalaya from E. Nepal to Bhutan, to 10,000 ft altitude. It was discovered in Sikkim by J. D. Hooker and introduced in 1851 to Kew. It is quite uncommon, which is no matter for great regret, for it is one of the least ornamental and most difficult of rhododendrons.

Rhododendron camelliiflorum (Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, Seattle, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

Walter Hood Fitch, working from Joseph Hooker's drawings and specimens, successfully captured the essential dowdiness of Rhododendron camelliiflorum in Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya (1850). Image https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/42878#page/82/mode/1up.

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